


The Rough Faced Girl

by listentotheink



Category: Jonas Brothers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-04
Updated: 2013-06-04
Packaged: 2017-12-13 21:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 39,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/829305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listentotheink/pseuds/listentotheink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cara was badly burned in a fire just before she was supposed to meet the Jonas Brothers. What happens when she flies to LA anyway, and wins the heart of the one and only Nick Jonas?</p><p>Basically a back up copy. You don't have to read it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rough Faced Girl

Chapter One

 

Cara rolled awake in the hospital a few hours later. At least, that’s where she thought she was. The smell of the sterile air burned her nose to the point of her reaching up and covering it as she opened up her eyes.

But instead of hitting smooth skin with her fingers, she hit the rough material of the gauze that was wrapped around her head, covering her face and hair. She didn’t remember what happened, only that there had been a fire in her house, a big one, and she didn’t wake up when she heard the smoke detector…Buster had been there…hadn’t he?

Her green eyes flicked around the room, and she discovered that, sure enough, she was in a hospital. She knew the second her hearing had cleared, and she heard the beep, beep, beep, of the heart monitor attached to her arm. She could also tell, because she had an IV attached to her forearm, and her mother was sleeping in a chair next to her bed, holding onto her hand.

She looked to her left, and she saw a table full of flowers, cards and a few teddy bears, then there was a large wooden name by the sink in front of her.

“J…O…N…A…S.” she muttered, trying not to wake her mother up as she looked at the board. It was covered with pictures of her favorite band, the Jonas Brothers, whom she had won a trip to meet, and spend a day with them, ending in a concert, and a flight back home to the small shabby town of Fulton N.Y.

The board could only be the creation of three people. Her best friends, Skittles, Libby and Brianna. They knew how much she loved the Jonas Brothers, and they shared that crazy fandom with each other. They even had a weekly “Rumor Report”, where they would set up a four-way call, and discuss the latest Jonas News. Libby was the computer geek of the four, and that meant she knew all of the hot websites to check out for the weekly updates of JN.

They had met when they were in kindergarten. They all sat right next to each other in lunch, and they had the same crazy talent in writing, and coloring, and being talkative. Cara was always the shy one, but they brought out her talkative side.

Brianna was her first best friend. She met her at snack time, and Brianna didn’t have anything to eat. So Cara shared her Ritz crackers with her. Brianna, she soon discovered, liked to talk a lot. And when she said a lot, she meant it. They would start a conversation, and Brianna would join right in, talking and talking, until she rambled on about completely random things, and completely forgot about what the original topic was. Unless it was the Jonas Brothers. They all talked about them a lot, all the time in fact. 

She met Skittles in lunch when they were outside playing jump rope with other girls. Skittles, or Sara in any other terms, had fallen down and scraped her knee badly on the sidewalk, so one of the Lunch Ladies (the evil one, you know how that works) asked Cara to take her to the nurse. In that short walk, she had found out that Sara was a very bubbly person, and her family was very important to her, including her step dad, who she loved.

The final member of the Fearless Four was Libby. Now, the Fearless Four, was sort of ironic, because Libby was afraid of escalators, but that didn’t matter. In fact, that was how Cara had met her. She’d seen her around school of course, but she never really talked to her until the day she met her at the mall, trembling on an escalator, scared out of her mind. Then, eight seconds later, they were best friends.

Even though the four girls had completely diverse personalities, they got along great, and stayed best friends through middle school and high school… well the first two years in high school anyway, seeing as they were only in tenth grade. They stayed together through everything, no matter what it was, they had chocolate ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s when a boy broke any one of their hearts, they shopped together, even though they had different styles. And the only thing that even mattered to them, was that they were friends, and they were Overactive Jonas Disorder patients, they seriously needed a drug for that sort of thing. 

“Cara?” her mother’s voice asked as she continued to stare at the board. Each letter was covered with pictures of the boys. The J, filled with Kevin, the O, filled with Joe, the N, filled with Nick, the A, filled with the few Frankie pictures out there, and the S filled with pictures of all three of the boys, each of them had the same smile fixed on their faces, the ones that photographers captured everywhere, all over the world. 

“Mom?” she asked back, turning her head slightly, trying too, at any rate. The gauze was a bit restricting.

“Oh thank god.” Her mother said, her voice cracking as she gave Cara a hug. “Thank god you’re okay.”

“Mom, I’m fine.” Cara said, hugging her mother back tightly. Soon she felt tears on her neck, and she knew her mother was crying, that fact was only reinforced by the fact that she could feel her mother’s body shaking in her arms. “Really, I am…” she trailed off, waiting for her mother to believe it.

“But, you’ve got blisters…”

“Blisters?” she asked, moving her hand up to the gauze. So that was the surprise that lay beneath the wrappings on her face.

“Your face caught on fire.”

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.” She said sarcastically. “Is Buster alright?”

She was more concerned about her life’s companion than herself. Buster was her dog, she picked him out when she was five, and he was definitely her best non-human friend ever.

“He’s fine. But you-”

“Mom, leave it.” She said sighing, and closing her eyes. It was going to be a long day.

 

Chapter Two

 

Nick Jonas rolled awake at four thirty in the morning on December thirty-first, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and yawning. Then he began his morning routine. First he tested his blood sugar, only to make sure that his numbers were good. The average numbers for Type One, or juvenile, Diabetes was anywhere between one hundred and one hundred and seventy. After he checked his blood sugar, he went into the bathroom and he took a shower.

Wrapping a blue towel around his waist, he walked back through the door to his room, and he pulled open his dresser as his dog, Elvis, a beastly golden retriever lay, sprawled out across his bed.

“Do you enjoy watching me?” he asked, a smile gracing his lips as he turned to the dog. Elvis’s ears pricked up slightly, and his eyes turned to Nick, then they closed, and Elvis let out a yawn, settling back into a deep sleep again.

Nick pulled on a pair of boxers, then a pair of dark blue jeans and a belt. He attached his OminPod to his hip, put on a plaid flannel shirt and he returned to the bathroom to dig around the mess of clothes to find his lucky socks. The thing about the socks is, is that every time he had a show, he had to wear that pair of socks. That was it. 

“Yo! Nick J! Let’s go!” Kevin said through his door. He heard Elvis let out a low bark, and he walked out of the bathroom, grabbing a leash out of his side table, his laptop and a book before calling Elvis and walking out of his room.

“Morning Nicholas,” his mother said as he walked into the kitchen. Elvis at his side.

“Morning mom.” He said, sitting down at the table as Kevin and Joe walked in, followed by their dad. Kevin was carrying a still sleeping Frankie.

“We need to be at the air port by five thirty.” Their dad, Paul said, glancing at the clock.

“I was fine till four thirty-five.” Joe sang. “When Big Rob woke me up, and ended the best dream of my life.”

“We get it Joe.” Kevin said, covering his ears and yawning.

Nick laughed at Joe’s version of 7:05. Because, only Joe would think of something that corny. Being the jokester of the family, he was entitled.

They got to LAX at exactly five thirty, and they went to their plane. There were hundreds of girls running around the place, but they didn’t care. They were incognito, so no one should recognize them. Until the flight, maybe. But if they didn’t it would be their lucky day, because then they wouldn’t have to worry about a mob scene in the aisle of the plane. That would definitely be bad. That had happened to them, a few times actually, and the flight attendants got a bit angry with them.

“Hey, Joe.” Nick said as they boarded the plane. “Will you help me with some work I have to do?”

“She gave you homework over Christmas?” Joe asked aghast at the thought of a teacher giving a student homework before Christmas.

“Stupid dumb Geometry Proofs.” Nick mumbled, running a hand through his damp hair as he dug around for his blue iPod.

“Yeah.” Joe said as Nick blasted “Pump it Up” by Elvis Costello into his ears. “I’ll help.”

“Good. Wake me up in three hours.”

“Will do.”

Nick closed his eyes, as the music continued to play, and he let it lull him to sleep.

*****

“So after you use Side, Side, Side,” Joe said, walking him through a geometry proof. “You have to use Corresponding Parts of Congruent Triangles are Congruent. Then you get ABC is congruent to ADC.”

Anyone who only knew Joe from his reputation on YouTube or interviews would never guess that he was as smart as he was. Truth be told, all three of the boys were very smart. Joe was good with numbers, Kevin with music and Nick with athletics, and music. All three excelled in their course work with flying colors. 

“Do you get it?” Joe asked.

“Sort of.” Nick said. “Can you help me with one more?”

Joe nodded, and Nick gave him a paper and pencil, and he watched in semi-fascination as Joe drew out a triangle proof from the top of his head.

“Try that.” Joe said, giving him the paper back.

“Okay.” Nick said, picking up his pencil and beginning to work. Besides his homework, he also had a sound check, an interview, and a concert.

It was going to be a long day.

 

Chapter Three:

 

“Cara!” Brianna, Libby and Skittles shouted running towards her their arms were out stretched, and each had an envelope, a bag, and a bunch of flowers.

Cara’s mother had left a few minutes previously, wanting some coffee from the cafeteria. She also needed to speak with the doctor about when the bandages could come off her face. So Cara was left alone, looking up YouTube videos on her laptop, keeping herself amused with ones such as “Scratch and Sniff Jonas,” and “Nick J is Off the Chain.” She was also working on her latest story about Joe, called The Pocket Watch, and reading another called #1…Unfan? by Ashley. In the background, she had the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato playing quietly.

That girl was a good multi-tasker.

“Don’t you _ever_ scare us like that again!” Skittles said, giving her a hug after Libby and Brianna did. Both Brianna and Libby nodded in agreement. “And change the song, god. 7:05 is so old!”

“I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t mean to get set on fire. God.” Cara retorted, “And no, I will not change the song. 7:05 happens to be my favorite song, and you are not the holder of the laptop, or the one in the hospital. But who is? ME! So there.” She stuck her tongue out just for added effects.

“Jeeze Cara.” Libby said, stepping in as group moderator. “Calm down. Sara Lee only wanted to express her obsession of Love Bug. Is that such a bad thing?”

Sara Lee was also Skittles. She had a lot of nick names that girl did. It was unbelievable. Skittles, and Sara, and Sara Lee, and Sara Bell, they never stopped! She was also very pretty. She had dark brown hair, and caramel colored highlights, tanned skin –due to the Mexican background– and she had a nice big scar across her left cheek from when she flipped her bike down a hill on Dewey Drive. That was a painful day for her.

“I am not obsessed with Love Bug. I did not even want to listen to Love Bug. I wanted to listen to Sorry.”

“Like there’s a difference.” Brianna retorted, smirking.

Brianna, or Bee, was a bubbly person naturally, and she was really cool. She had long brown hair with bangs, and brown eyes. She always had been on the short side too. She was about five two, but that didn’t stop her from having a lot of heart. She also had trust issues, and she covered it up by using sarcasm, that was her strongest point, if you haven’t realized.

“There is actually quite a big difference.” Libby said. Cara could tell by the look on her face she was enjoying correcting her two best friends. “Love Bug has more of a folk rock sound, and Sorry is more like a pop sound. Plus they have different lyrics, and completely different styles of sound and vocals.” 

That was what Libby did. She corrected people, and had a heck of a time doing it. That was her talent, beside the fact that she could recite the Harry Potter books from back to front, get a one hundred on any Star Wars quiz you gave her, and dump out the glass of eggnog that you made thinking she would love it, but in reality she hates it. 

She had brown wavy hair that had copper highlights in it, and fell between her chest and shoulders. The waves annoyed her, so she always wore it in a braid or a pony tail. She also had brown eyes, that were nearly covered by her side bangs, and they had glints of orange in them sometimes. She thought that was weird, but it didn’t matter.

“Anyway.” Bee continued. “We know you didn’t mean to get set on fire, we were just worried about you. we didn’t know if you were going to wake up.”

“Well here I am!” Cara said, trying to be cheerful. “They’re taking the bandages off in a little while apparently.”

“That’s good. Seeing as it’s been two weeks.” Libby said, then Bee and Skittles hit her on the back of the head. “Ow! What was that for!?” 

“Her mom told us not to say anything!” Sara said.

“Oops.”

“Yeah, ‘oops’ is right Libby.” Bee said.

“Two weeks?” Cara asked, astounded. She’d only been here a couple of hours… not two weeks…right? Her friends had to be lying.

But they’d never lied to her before.

“Yeah.” The three said together.

Cara sat back in her pillows, once again, consumed in deep thought. Two Weeks, fourteen days, three hundred and thirty six hours. That meant she missed her brother’s birthday, Christmas, and if her calculations were right, then that night was New Year’s Eve.

“What’s all of that stuff?” she asked, gesturing to the bags.

“We brought gifts.” Bee said. Picking up a bag and pulling out a floppy, stuffed puppy. “Bentley.” She added, handing him to her.

“We also brought you… Pajamas,” Libby said, “A tooth brush, gum, chocolate, a pillow, the plane tickets to California in two weeks, cookies, soda and –”

“The bible.” Sara said, pulling out a stack of the latest _J-14, Popstar, Bop, TigerBeat,_ and _M,_ magazines. 

“I love you guys.” Cara said. Picking up the issue of J-14 and looking at Nick Jonas’s beautiful face that graced the cover. He was simply gorgeous. “What did you say about plane tickets?”

“Oh.” Libby said. “That. Um, they’re the tickets to LAX in two weeks. Look at Nick, he’s a stud muffin.”  She said, using a Joe quote to change the subject.

“He’s off the chain!” Bee added.

“Thanks for the JONAS board by the way. I love it. So, back to the tickets..?”

“Hey, look! It’s ten o’clock!” Sara said. “Change it to ABC! The boys are on tonight!”

 

Chapter Four

 

Nick’s fingers flew across the keyboard on his Voyager phone as he typed a quick text message to his girlfriend, Maggie. She was in New Jersey, with her family, but she was driving up to Times Square for the New Year’s show later that night. They had landed at JFK airport in New York City only minutes previously, and the second he had powered on his phone, he had found three missed calls, and ten new text messages. All of the text messages were from Maggie, because she knew he’d rather text than talk, and the three phone calls were from Joe’s girlfriend Tricia. She was his best friend, so she was allowed to call him.

Nick and Maggie had met in elementary school on the playground, she was on the swings, acting so carefree, and he instantly liked her. Plus she had brown wavy hair. That was so much cooler and prettier than curly hair like his. When he’d seen her first, she’d dropped her glasses on the ground, and she was cleaning then off, then, he took the time for a double take, and he saw she looked even prettier with her glasses on. They’d been close for years, not as close as he, Tricia and Maya, and he finally got the guts to ask her out. They’d been together for two years.

Joe was also on the phone, talking to his girlfriend of nearly three years, Tricia, also from their hometown of Wyckoff.  He, unlike Nick was actually talking to her on his Samsung Sway, using up his minutes, anything for the girl he loved.

Nick had never seen someone as in love as Joe was with Tricia, besides his parents. Through everything, the insane fan girls, the rumors, bad publicity, busy schedules… they stuck together, through it all. Even phone calls that only lasted long enough for them to exchange a quick “I love you” before hanging up, concert’s where Joe sang “Hello Beautiful” specifically for her. They stuck through it all.

Kevin, meanwhile was on a video chat with his girlfriend Emily. They had also been together for nearly three years, and they were as determined to make it through as Joe and Tricia were.

All three girls were supposed to be joining them for New Year’s and the boys were giving them information and room numbers, along with when the girls were arriving and what their accommodations were.

“What time do you think you’ll be here?” He heard Joe ask Tricia. “Six? That’s soon. Okay. I’ll see you then. I love you… no, you hang up first… I’m not hanging up until you do.”

Nick let out a sigh, shaking his head as his brother played the never ending game of “You hang up, no you hang up.” Before Kevin came out and slid the phone shut for him. That led to a smack down, Jonas Style. Nick took no interest that particular time, so he just laid down on his bed, Voyager in hand as the texting session continued.

 

I have to go. Radio show.

 

He typed that quickly, wanting to go to Virgin Megastore. Sure he felt bad lying to his girlfriend, but sometimes, he had no other choice.

 

Okay. I love you.

 

Nick let out a deep sigh, and he typed back what he knew she wanted to hear.

 

I love you too.

 

~*~

 

At nine o’clock, after meeting the girls at their hotel and taking them to dinner, they met their band at the stage for a sound check, and they walked around the square for ten minutes or so, then they returned and went to the special soundboard. They signed a few autographs along the way, and they regretted that they could only have a few more minutes with the girls before they had to go to the stage. But even in the short time they had together, Tricia and Joe had managed to make up for several months worth of not seeing each other.

Maggie had come in with a smile on her face that had to stretch from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. She’d given him a huge kiss, and Emily and Kevin had exchanged a kiss and a hug.

“Let’s escort these lovely, ladies outside.” he said smiling as Tricia took her arm.  All three of the girls looked incredible. 

Tricia went for classy, yet casual. She’d worn a grey wool sweater with a big silk bow on the front and a white tank top underneath it then she’d put on a pair of dark blue jeans that faded at the thigh and darkened back at the knee, with a silver bracelet Joe had gotten her from Tiffany’s for their third year anniversary [their anniversary was on Christmas], and a white gold, sapphire heart journey pendant he’d gotten for their two year anniversary. Nick had a feeling that soon she’d have something on a very important finger as well. On her feet, she had shiny black flats and she’d also put on Joe’s extra wool coat he had brought for her.

Emily had worn a nice pair of black pinstriped pants, and a red sweater with a white tank top underneath it. She had a matching Fedora hat on, a silver, heart shaped locket that Kevin had gotten her for Christmas and a grey wool coat. She also went for classy, yet casual.

Then there was Maggie. Maggie had found this crazy top, it was red with white and blue patterns all over it, and an undershirt, along with grey skinny jeans, and red converse. That was one of the things that Nick liked about her, she had a way of looking nice, even with her outrageous style.

“Big Rob, my man.” Joe said smiling. “Can you get these lovely ladies a seat in the front?”

“Absolutely.”

 

Chapter Five

 

“I’m not going.” Cara said flatly, folding her arms over her chest. It was nearly ten thirty, and the doctor was trying to take her bandages off, but it was proving rather difficult, seeing as she kept moving around and wouldn’t sit still. It was a bit painful.

“Miss, you need to stay still.” The doctor said. 

Cara sighed, and she turned her eyes to the T.V, angrily. But she had decided to cooperate. She would’ve rather had the bandages stay on, because she knew there was going to be a large amount of scarring on her face, and she wasn’t ready for that. People were going to stare, and she was never one for attention. Especially attention that she couldn’t control, with the scarring, EVERYONE was going to stare, and wonder what happened.

“Would you hurry up?” she asked impatiently, “My future husband is going to be on T.V, and I do not need you in the way.”

“Cara!” her mother said from the chair next to her.

“Sorry.” She muttered to the doctor, finally sitting still enough so he could take the bandages of. 

The cold air from the hospital room hit the left side of her face, and it stung like crazy. Her first initiative was to put her hand on her face, but when she did that, it only stung worse.

 _What the heck did they do to me?_ She wondered silently, looking up in the mirror across the bed, next to the T.V. what she saw absolutely shocked her. The left side of her face was covered in shiny pink skin, in some places brown or white, and when she gingerly placed a hand there, it felt hard. It was all around her face, from the middle of her forehead it went down and around her eye, all across her cheek and the middle of her lips, and to her chin.

“Don’t look at it. Please.” She whispered to her friends. “Just don’t.”

“Cara –” Libby tried, but Cara cut her off.

“No Libby. Don’t look at it. It only makes me feel a hundred times worse. Just don’t please.”

“But –” Bee tried.

“No.” Cara said stubbornly. “Let’s just watch the boys please.”

Libby, Bee and Sara let out a collective sigh, and they sat in the chairs that had been provided for them, with bags of cookies, a bag of chips and three bottles of soda spread out on a table next to them. 

“Want a coke Cara?” Libby asked, handing her a glass. 

“Thanks.” Cara said offering a small smile. She could tell her friends were trying really hard not to look at her, and she couldn’t blame them. She was going to get picked on horribly at school, hopefully they’d still be there for her.

Her mother had left, again, this time to check on what time she would be discharged the next day, and to call her father. Cara specifically asked for her UCLA hoodie, and for her father to bring Buster with him. She had to thank that dog, he was the one who saved her life after all. Even if he couldn’t get her out before her face caught on fire.

Shows how loyal animals are.

But, what about friends?

That was her main worry at that point. How her friends were going to react to the others at school, the ones who were picking on her. She was sure they’d come up with nicknames for her.

“Hey guys.” She said as she took a sip of her drink. “What happens on Monday?”

They all turned towards her, it was just as the boys were taking the stage and the opening chords of Burnin Up came on. Joe had began to sing.

“I’m hot… you’re cold… you go around, like you know. Who I am, but you don’t. you got me on my toes.” He sang as the girls looked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean what happens?” Bee asked, shooting quick glances at the screen. She was convinced that Joe was going to marry her, even though he had a girlfriend.

“When they pick on me. And ask what happened.” She said, feeling the tears that had wanted to fall threatening to spill over. “What happens?”

“We’ll be there.” Libby said. “I don’t even know why you’d ask something so stupid. Aren’t you supposed to be smart?”

“I just thought that –”

“No. you didn’t think.” Sara said. “You’ve been there for us through all of our tough times, and we’re going to be there for you. It’s that simple. There’s no point in even doubting how close of friends we are. Right guys?”

“Absolutely. Who are we going to go to for the JN?”

“Yeah.” Bee said. “I mean– NO!” her shriek filled the room, and all eyes flew up to the T.V. screen. “JOE! NO!”

Her and her infatuation with Joe Jonas. It was like one of those soap operas that people watch and they’re all “Oh my, gosh! Javier! Can’t you see that Veronique is cheating on you with Stavros?!”

But all of their eyes widened when they saw what was going on, on the T.V. screen. 

On the T.V. screen, was Joe Jonas, with confetti stuck in his hair, down on one knee with a ring box in his hand.

 

Chapter Six:

 

“You think she’ll say yes?”  Nick asked Joe as he tuned his guitar backstage and waited for the signal through their ear buds, saying that they could go onstage. That had about twenty minutes and the only thing that Joe was thinking about was his proposal to Tricia that night.

He had it all planed out. He was going to wait until eleven fifty-nine, on the dot, before he got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. Then hopefully, the exact second the ball reached the bottom of the pole, she’d have said yes, and they’d be kissing as confetti flew around them.  That was how he’d been planning it for months, ever since they had found out that they were going to be in New York for the New Year. 

“I hope so… do you think I’m doing the right thing?” Joe asked, he was starting to have his doubts. He’s expressed his plan to Nick earlier, but at that point, he was positive that she would say yes. Now he wasn’t so sure.

They were only nineteen after all, nearly twenty, but they still had a lot of young years left ahead of them, and he was starting to think that maybe she’d think that they were too young, and that they needed more time to think about it instead of acting rational and getting married at the drop of a hat. Even though that’s what he would’ve done. He would’ve driven through one of those chapels in Vegas if it meant getting to spend the rest of his life with her. His parents knew it, his brothers knew it, and he knew it. But the question was…did she?

“Come on man, they need us on stage.” Kevin said, clapping Joe on the shoulder as Nick watched Joe stand up, fumbling with the box before putting it in his jacket pocket. “You’ll be fine.”

Joe hadn’t told Kevin about his plan, so Kevin thought it was just nerves.

If only he knew.

After the screams of about a million people, literally, the two song set began.

“I’m hot.” Joe sang as the opening chords began. “You’re cold, you go around, like you know. Who I am. But you don’t. You got me on my toes.”

Joe and Nick both found it ironic that they were singing this song, seeing as it was nineteen degrees in New York City with a wind chill of two degrees. And Taylor Swift, had worn a sleeveless dress. How stupid was that? Seriously now, she’s from Pennsylvania, she should know the weather, and how to dress appropriately for that weather.

Of course, she did wear a jacket, but that didn’t matter, she still could’ve froze to death. Then poor Demi, she’d been freezing. The boys were hugging her, and Joe had actually been afraid of letting her go, because of the look she was giving them. It was one of those “I’ll kill you if you leave,” looks. She was so cold.

“Yo burnin up in this place tonight!” Big Rob sang. Even the big man was dressed right. He had on a wicked warm down jacket and jeans on, with a knit cap. “The Brothers sing it loud!”

“And we’re feeling right!” they echoed.

“Get up and dance!” Big Rob said, it sounded like he was trying to encourage it, because if you danced, the blood in your system would start flowing, and it would make you warm. “Don’t try and fight it. Big Rob’s for real.”

“And that’s no lie!”

“Stop drop and roll!”

“And touch the floor. It keeps on burnin’ up.”

“More and more! I got the JB with me, laying it down, come on boys, bring the chorus around!”

Big Rob stayed on with them after that, dancing a little bit then he left when they started up their second song, “Tonight.” That was going to be their sixth released single from all three of their albums, it went out on January fourth. 

“Well, here we are again.” Joe sang, putting his arm around Nick’s shoulders. “Throwing punch lines, no one wins.”

He looked down into the front of the crowd, and he saw Tricia, Maggie and Emily smiling up at them. He winked at Tricia, and then he continued with the song.

When they were finally done, he wished the crowd a happy New Year, then he went to find Tricia, completely skipping out on the interview with Ryan Seacrest.

“You were great!” she said, throwing her arms around him and kissing him lightly. He smiled, and he checked his watch. Eleven fifty eight.

“I have to ask you something.” He said.

The second his watch hit eleven fifty nine, he got down on one knee and opened the box he had been fiddling with in his pocket. 

“I love you, and I know we’re young. But I want to be with you forever. Marry me Tricia.”

He looked up at her as confetti began to fall. Her hands had immediately gone to cover her mouth, and he saw tears begin to fall down her eyes, freezing on her cheeks.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven…” the crowd chanted.

“Yes.” She said as they hit five. “Yes!”

Joe stood up and twirled her around before slipping the ring on her finger.

“Two, one!” the crowd cheered. “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

“Happy New Year.” he whispered, before pulling her into a deep kiss. He didn’t even notice the flashbulbs going off around him, or the Kiss Cam that Ryan had had set up, all he knew was that he was forever off the market, and he was absolutely, one hundred percent, happy about that. 

The Kiss Cam caught everything from the proposal to the kiss to the slight glint of light that reflected off Tricia’s square cut diamond ring. And he couldn’t wait to watch it on YouTube the next day.

 

Chapter Seven

 

A week later, Cara found herself dreading going back to school, and she liked school. She took great pride in her grades, and she worked hard to achieve them.

Now all she wanted to do, was curl up under the covers at her grandmother’s house, where they were staying, and be alone, with nothing but the soothing sounds of music, and the words of books to keep her happy. It would give her time to catch up in her work. Her grades had fallen just a bit below standards for her, so she wasn’t too proud of that. In a perfect world, that’s what she would do

But, it wasn’t a perfect world.

And at six fifteen, two mornings after she was discharged, she found herself waking up to the sounds of 7:05 filling her ears. She loved that song, if you couldn’t tell. She liked how immature Nick’s voice sounded, and she liked to think, wait until you hear yourself in a few years.

She rolled out of bed miserably, dragging her feet across the emerald carpet in her room, hoping to prolong the algorithm of getting ready so she didn’t have to show up at school that day. She showered, very carefully, trying not to hurt her face, brushed her teeth, and then she wrapped a towel around herself and walked to her room. 

She pulled open the closet, filled with new clothes, and pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans, and an Oklahoma University hoodie, and put them on, before grabbing her messenger bag, and walking down the stairs to her kitchen.

“Morning Cara.” Her grandmother said, setting a plate of eggs in front of her.

“Morning.” She said, pushing the plate away. “I’m not hungry.” She added, seeing the look on her grandmother’s face as her older brother, Jason walked down the stairs.

“SCHOOL, SCHOOL! We’re going to school, we’re going to S-C-H-O-O-L SCHOOL! YEAH!” he said, taking the plate of eggs from Cara and grabbing a fork.

“Woo.” Cara said, pulling her hood over her face.

“Come on Car,” her brother said. “It’s not that bad.”

“Jeremy. Come on, my face is mutilated, they’re going to laugh.” Cara mumbled, picking up her bag. 

She followed them out to his truck, and she hopped in the cab, basking in the scent of dirt bike grease and exhaust. She loved it.

His truck was almost as messy as his room. Tools and ripped magazines littered the floor, along with random gear, such as his chest protector, and a broken pair of goggles. The driver’s seat had a rip in the fabric; the stuffing was falling apart, and onto the floor. But Cara loved it, for some reason unknown to her, it was just who her brother was.

“Car, they aren’t going to laugh.” He began, and Cara glared at him, “Okay, that’s a lie. But so what? They just aren’t secure with themselves and find the need to feel secure by picking on someone else. There’s no reason for you to even care.”

“Jer,” Cara said. “Do you know how bad this is going to affect my social status in the school?”

“You have Sara, Libby and Bee. Who else do you need? What else do you want?”

“My old face back.” She said as Buster and Gemma ran up to her, looking for a good-bye ear scratch as usual. “You guys will still love me though. I’ll see you after school.”

Buster licked her face, covering her burnt cheek with slobber, as if that would help cover it up, and he looked at her with understanding eyes, almost as if he could feel her pain, and he probably could. Animals are, after all, smarter than people.

“What do you think about this?” She asked Jeremy as he pulled onto the highway and turned up 105.5 as ACDC started to play “Thunderstruck.”

“What do I think about what?” he asked, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as the drumbeat got louder.

“The Pep Squad.” She said sarcastically, his eyes lit up. “My face you idiot. What do you think?”

“I think.” He started at a red light. “I think, that no matter what you look like, you’re always going to be my baby sister, and that’s all I’m ever going to see when I look at you. I’m always going to see the eleven year old girl with my bike’s sponsor’s hat on, mud streaked across her face as she read the owner’s manual to the cordless drill dad got me for Christmas four years ago. I’m still going to see my little sister, and that’s all that matters right?”

“Thanks Jer.” She said, smiling as she pulled her hood closer to her face, blocking her profile from view even more.

“You realize you can’t have your hood up in school right?” he said when they parked in the Senior lot behind the school and walked in together.

“Yeah.” She muttered, pushing her hood back.

It was early, so hardly anyone was at school, and that was a good thing, but that just meant she was going to have a worse day when kids started to come into the school.

“Hey, I have hoops after school.” Jeremy said before heading to the gym. “Are you getting a ride? Or hanging?”

“There’s drama rehearsal ‘till five. I’ll hang in the music room.” Cara said back, itching her forehead. After three weeks, it finally stopped stinging when she touched it.

“’Kay, catch you later.”

“Yeah. Study hall you big doof.”

“You know it.” 

She smiled, and waved to Jer, before heading down the hall to her locker, trying to keep her face low as she did so. She was going to have to adjust to the new image of herself, and it was going to take a little longer than she thought.

“Whoa.” Someone said as she pulled her geometry book out of her locker. She recognized that voice. It was –

“Taylor.” She said coldly.

“I see the ugly gods decided to be generous to you today.” She said snidely, in that annoying squeaky voice that she had. “Nice face.”

“At least I don’t look like someone sat on me.”

“That’s saying something coming from a girl who looks like you.”

“What’s your problem?” Bee asked coming to Cara’s defense. “Cara, you better watch it. The air pressure’s building in her head. It might pop then her brain will go all over the place. Oh wait… you don’t have a brain…”

“You had better watch it. Those burns are going to give everyone something to rag on you about.”

“Like I don’t get that enough.”

“Just ignore her Cara.” Bee said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get to class.”

 

Chapter Eight

 

Nick’s eyes were growing heavier and heavier as he sat at the kitchen table doing school work. It was seven o’clock and he found himself seated at the kitchen table, pencil in hand, and his math book open working on Geometry proofs, yet again. But at least the home schooling was like back home in Wyckoff. 

He heard the clicking of nails, and the dragging sound of a metal clip across the hard wood floor, and it was only a few seconds later when he felt a golden head plop down in his lap, a red vinyl leash hanging out of the dog’s mouth.

“Hey buddy.” Nick said as Elvis looked up at him with pleading eyes. He scratched the retriever’s big floppy ears, and he could feel the dog’s brown eyes weakening his resolve immensely. He knew that he should stay home and work on the proofs. But, his dog was calling him. Literally. 

“You want to go for a walk?” he asked, putting down the pencil he’d been chewing on as he tried to work out one of the square proofs. He had to prove the square, then one of the triangles in the square. His teacher was trying to drain his brain, he could swear to it. He’d been in a song-writing slump since they started that unit. The teacher, Miss Glass had drawn it up for him the previous day as homework, but it was the last thing on his mind at that point.

“Hey, Nick J.” Joe said, coming into the room in his glasses, an old grey muscle shirt (cue your drool Bee) and red plaid boxers. “Have you seen my contacts case? I cannot find it anywhere, and I have searched the house ten times over.”

“Have you checked your sock drawer?” Nick asked, running his hands over his face, then standing up and stretching.

“Why on Earth would it be there?” he asked walking out the door and into his and Kevin’s room as Nick clipped on Elvis’s leash and pulled on his Dior shoes.

“Find them?” Nick asked, stepping outside.

“Yep.” Joe said. “In the sock drawer like you said.”

“How’s Tricia going to live with you losing things all of the time?” Nick asked as Elvis sat, patiently, a pleading look in his eyes.

“No clue.” Joe said. “Have a good walk.”

“Yeah.” Nick said as Joe turned away. He sighed. “Want to come?”

“Sure!” Joe said “Give me ten minutes.” He added, disappearing into his room.

“Sorry Elvis.” Nick said, sitting on the ground next to Joe’s door. “Looks like we’re postponing the walk until tomorrow.”

“I do not take that long to get ready.” Joe said indignantly as he came out of his door, fixing his Yankees hat so it was low over his eyes. “How’s The Hair looking?”

“The Hair.” Nick said, using air quotes around Joe’s phrase of choice “Is looking fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Cause my bangs feel a little weird. And it feels poofy in the back.”

“Joe, it looks fine. And if you don’t think so, go back to the Mohawk.”

“NEVER! The Joehawk days are over.”

“The Joehawk? Forget it, chances are I don’t want to know. Come on Elvis.”

Elvis’s ears pricked up when he heard his name called, and he trotted right alongside Nick and Joe as they talked about random things.

They walked around the block twice, then they set of towards the doggie park near their neighborhood, where they let Elvis off the leash, and let him run around with other dogs while they sat underneath an old Maple tree. They tried to keep hidden as best they could, but of course one or two kids came up to them, asking for a picture.

“You know we have that fan thing right?” Joe asked as he picked grass and re-scattered it around on the ground.

“What fan thing?” Nick asked. They had so many fan things, he couldn’t keep them straight anymore.

“The “Spend a Day With One Lucky Fan” thing. You remember, dad told us about it a couple of weeks ago.”

“Oh, the one with…Kendra was it? Krysta…Karlee…Kayla…?”

“Cara?”

“Cara! That’s it! Cara!” Nick said, whistling for Elvis, then standing up. “What about it?”

“Well we have to have something planned for her! I mean, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, we have to make this an amazing day for her!”

“Alright man. We have to get Kevin in on it though.”

“We’ll call him on the way home. And then, Operation: Make a Fan Have the Best Day Ever is a go!” Joe said, enthusiastically. “Your code name is Tiki, Kevin’s is Quibble, and mine is Smankledorf.”

“Why do we have to have Code Names?”

“Because, they make everything fun.”

 

Chapter Nine

 

Cara sat down in third bell study hall, looking somber, her iPod was playing loudly into her ears, and she had a deck of cards out on top of her desk, waiting for her brother to come along so they could finish their epic battle of War.

Her day had sucked so far. It was completely awful, and no one could help her, because no one knew what she was going through, and the only people who did were in wheel chairs, and unable to talk. So she turned to her escape.

Music.

“War?” someone asked as “A Little Bit Longer” played for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “Can we play twenty one instead?”

“Hey Jer.” She said, pausing her iPod as he sat across from her. He set his bag, if you could call it that, on the floor. It was more like a graffiti zone. Numerous girls had written their phone numbers on it, and he had band names, and an infinite amount of bike sponsor stickers and patches on it.

He kicked his feet up on the desk, crossed his arms behind his head, tipped his chair backwards, and flashed a smile to a group of cheerleaders, who giggled.

“Feet off the desk.” The teacher said walking by and flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

“Katie.” Jeremy said sending her a charming smile. “Can’t you make one small exception for me?”

“No.” the teacher said.

“Why not?”

“First of all, I am the teacher, what I say goes.”

“Katie, Katie, Katie.” Jer said, shaking his hair. “You’re new here, I’ll give you that, but let me give you a rundown of the system.”

“I have been teaching her for ten years, I do not need a ‘rundown of the system.’”

“But compared to Eva, the American History teacher, you’re ancient.”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s face it Katie, in teachers years, you’re, like, sixty five.”

“Shut up Jer.” Cara muttered shielding her eyes, and rubbing her temples, feeling the hard scar tissue there before returning to shuffling the deck. “Just shut up.”

Jeremy looked at her, smirking before he took his feet off the desk and sat up.

“Twenty one?” he asked.

Cara nodded, and she dealt a hand of cards before the game began. They had managed to make it through a few hands before the bell rang and they went their separate ways. The schedule returned to normal for both of them, and Cara made her way to fourth bell Chem. class. 

“Libby,” she said as she unlocked the drawers of their lab table and pulled out the Bunsen burner.  “What do you think I should do about the “Spend a Day With JB?” thing?”

“If you don’t go, I’ll be extremely upset.” Skittles said, walking over with the magnesium

“And so will I.” Bee added, setting down the copper.

“I was asking Libby. But thank you guys.” Cara said, grabbing the test tubes as well.

“What they said. I will be really mad at you plus, you need to get Joe’s John Hancock before Bee flips out.” Libby said, putting on her safety glasses. “I really think you should go.”

“They’re going to laugh at me.” Cara mumbled, beginning to fill out her lab report. “I know they will. Look at how everyone else has reacted.” She added, glancing to her left, where Nick Tallents and Craig Weaver were staring at her.

“Those boys,” Bee cut in “Aren’t like ‘everyone else’ they are something special, they are three people who come around, once maybe twice in a lifetime, if you’re lucky.”

“They will not laugh at you.” Skittles added

“Yes they will.” 

“Cara, you are getting on that plane Saturday whether you like it or not. I will drag you on the plane, and buckle you down myself if I have to, and Libby and Bee will help me.” Skittles said.

“No. Effin. Way.” Cara said. “I’m not, because they’re going to laugh at me, and that will be ten times worse then everyone in the school laughing at me because they’re famous and I really do want to go, but I don’t want to get laughed at by my idols, and guys I’m really helpless here! Cause I want to go, but I don’t want to go, and I’m so confused!”

“Yo, that’s illogical. I can’t have it.” Libby said. “If you want to go, then go. That’s it. It’s simple.”

“I still don’t know.” She whispered as they lit the Bunsen burner.

“It’s a matter of what you want.” Bee said.

“I really, really want to go. Really, really bad.” 

“That’s your answer.” Skittles, Libby and Bee said together.

 

When Cara got home, she packed three days worth of clothes, and told her mother she’d need a ride to the airport.

 

Chapter Ten:

 

Nick plucked the strings on his guitar absently as he tried to form words that he could turn into a decent song. It used to come easy to him, but he had been struggling with it ever since they released “A Little Bit Longer.” They were five songs into the next record, they were hard for Nick to write, but the next ones were even harder. He just could not come up with lyrics.

So he just started playing a cover song that popped into his head out of the blue.

“When I see your smile, Tears roll down my face.” He sang, playing the chords and leaning against the headboard of his bed. “I can't replace. And now that I'm strong, I have figured out, how this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul. And I know I'll find deep inside me, I can be the one.”

He didn’t notice Joe and Kevin come to stand in his door, he just kept playing and singing as he words came to him. It was second nature to him, this song. It was one of the first songs he had ever played.

“I will never let you fall. I’ll stand up with you forever. I’ll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to heaven. It’s okay…It’s okay… It’s okay…”

“Seasons are changing, and waves are crashing, and stars are falling all for us.” Joe sang, walking over to Nick and sitting down next to him as Kevin picked up another guitar and strummed it, matching the chords Nick was playing without thinking about it. “Days grow longer and nights grown shorter. I can show you I’ll be the one.”

“I will never let you fall. I’ll stand up with you forever, I’ll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to heaven.”

Nick stopped playing after that, and he set his guitar off to the side, letting out a deep sigh as he did so. Then he closed his notebook, the page still blank, and he stood up.

“Are we going to the airport?” he asked, stretching and running a hand through his curly hair. It was about three o’clock on Saturday afternoon and they had to go get the ‘lucky fan’ and take her to the hotel she was staying at for two nights.

“Would I be wearing regular jeans for any other occasion?” Joe asked pulling at the loose denim of his jeans. Nick looked him over, and decided that no, he wouldn’t dress like that at all. Joe had put on a pink Ralph Lauren polo shirt, complete with a red polo pony embroidered on the left breast side of it. He completed it with a Yankees hat, and black aviator sunglasses.

“No.” Nick said. “Alright, I’ll be down in like two seconds, who’s taking us?”

“Big Rob.” Kevin answered.

“Okay.” Nick said as he dug around his closet for a different pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Then he grabbed sunglasses, a hat, and a pair of grey converse before setting out to the white Chevy Tahoe Hybrid that his brother drove.

“Ready?” Big Rob asked as Nick put on his seat belt.

“Yup.” All three responded before rolling up the tinted windows and pulling their hats low, to shield their faces, hoping to god that they’d actually be able to leave their house without being mobbed by fans.

 

Chapter Eleven

 

“Mom, I’ll be fine.” Cara said, adjusting her laptop case on her shoulder and lugging her duffle bag behind her as they went to the check in counter leaving her dad and Jer in the car outside.

“I know,” her mother said. “I just… LA? By yourself for three days? The devil lives there you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know mom, I get it. I promise, I won’t buy drugs, and I won’t buy a fake I.D. I won’t sneak into clubs, and I won’t leave the hotel unless it’s with the Boys. I know mom, I know. Sheesh.”

“Call me as soon as you land. You have your Cell phone right?”

“Yes.”

“Call every day. And I’ll be at the airport to pick you up on Monday.”

“Alright. Bye mom.” Cara said, giving her mother a hug in front of the escalator.

Her mother smiled at her, and she stepped onto the escalator, she looked over her shoulder, to find her mother had already left. Again, she adjusted her laptop case, and flung her drawstring bag over her shoulder, pulling the hood of her Oklahoma U sweatshirt over her head, casting a shadow on the left side of her face.

“Can I see your boarding pass?” an older man said to her kindly. He had wrinkles on his face, and a white mustache. 

“Yes sir.” She said smiling and pulling her pass out of her hoodie pocket. She handed it to the man, and listened to the scanner beep as it checked her in. then she showed him her credential. The tag showed that she was an ‘Unaccompanied Minor” he nodded, and she moved forward, taking her sneakers and sweatshirt off before placing them in a plastic tub. “What?” she asked sharply when she caught someone staring at her. The person shrunk away from her. 

“That’s what I thought.” She muttered, sliding her tray along the conveyor belt, watching as her cell phone, iPod, notebooks and pop tarts rolled away from her.

“Any laptops, cell phones, portable electronic devices?” a short, stout woman asked her as she walked through.

“My laptop.” Cara said.

“Alright.” The woman said, not looking twice at Cara, just taking her laptop out of the case and sending it through the scanner alone.

Cara handed a man her boarding pass, and he motioned her forward, she stepped through the metal detector when it didn’t beep, she set off to get her laptop, sneakers and sweat shirt before moving along to her gate.

“Good morning ladies and gentleman.” A woman at the Jet Blue gate said when she went to sit in the special section for Unaccompanied Minors. “Welcome to flight 429 a direct flight to Los Angeles International Airport. We will begin boarding very shortly.”

Cara looked down at the first class ticket that she held in her hand, and she thought it was just a dream. There was no way she was sitting in an airport, waiting for a direct flight to LA. There was no way she was meeting the Jonas Brothers later that day, it was impossible. She’d never been that lucky in her life. So she pinched herself, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, and sure enough she wasn’t.

“Excuse me, miss. Unaccompanied Minors are boarding now.” A flight attendant said.

“Thank you.” Cara said, standing up and grabbing her laptop and drawstring bag.

She followed the woman down the tunnel and onto the plane, where she took her seat in first class. She never thought she’d see the day when she’d be flying first class instead of coach. If it was her, they would’ve had to pay out of their as.ses for those tickets, but for Popstar! magazine, it was probably like ten dollars.

When she was settled in her seat, she took out her iPod, the notebook that she was filling with ideas for The Pocket Watch, and a pen, and she pulled off her adidas sweat pants, revealing the denim shorts underneath, then she stowed her laptop and bag under the seat in front of her, waiting for the plane to take off.

 

When they landed, they opened up the door to the plane and brought one of the portable staircases over to the side of the plane. Before she got up, Cara pulled on her pair of brown leather flip-flops, then she walked to the front of the plane and stepped onto the tiny landing.

The warm California sun hit her face, and legs, making her smile. The sun was such a nice change from the snow in New York. She walked down the stairs slowly, making sure she didn’t trip, and she looked around for whoever was going to pick her up. Then she pulled out her cell phone and powered it on, sending a quick text to Bee, Libby and Skittles, and then she called her mom and told her she landed safely.

After searching around for a few minutes, she finally saw someone dressed in jeans, a red plaid shirt, and a Yankees hat pulled low over his eyes. He was also holding a rather large sign that said ‘CARA’ in big bold letters.

She kept her hood pulled up so the shadow would stay on the left side of her face, and she walked over to him.

“I’m Cara.” She said cautiously, then the person fixed his hat so she could see his face, and she nearly passed out.

 

Chapter Twelve

 

“I’m Nick.” The boy said holding out his hand.

Cara smiled at him, and nodded, taking his hand and shaking it. She couldn’t believe it, Nick Jonas was picking her up from the airport. She thought that it’d be their PR person or someone like that, not Nick Jonas himself.

“Cara.” She said, introducing herself properly and smiling at him. “Great disguise by the way. No one would’ve thought that Nick Jonas would ever wear normal jeans.” She said quietly, then looking around to make sure that no one heard her.

“If you think my disguise is good. Wait ‘till you see Joe.” He said laughing. “Big Rob already got your bag, so we’re just going to go to the car. Here, let me take that.” He said, taking her laptop case from her.

“I can carry it. It’s fine.” She said, trying to take it back.

“It’s okay. I got it.” He said smiling at her as her phone vibrated in her pocket.

“OH MY GOD! IT”S NICK JONAS!” someone screamed. Nick’s eyes got wide and he looked over his shoulder, only to see a large group of girls running towards him.

“Crap!” he said grabbing Cara’s arm. “RUN!”

Cara looked over her shoulder and she saw the girls, then she looked at Nick, who was already running. She set off at a dead sprint and caught up with him as he ran towards the parking lot. Every where she looked, flashbulbs were going off, trying to capture the moment that she would remember forever. Running from girls, that was something to look back on and laugh.

When they reached the car, Nick pulled open the door, and Cara dove in, him right behind her.

“Oof!” she said, as she dove in, landing on someone, who groaned when she hit his lap. She peered up at him, hiding her face with her hand, passing it off as an itch.

“Hi, I’m Joe.” Joe said as she looked up at him from her awkward position in his lap.

“I’m Cara!” she said brightly as Nick dove in behind her, landing on top of her and Joe.

“GO, GO, GO!” he shouted, and Big Rob slammed on the gas, making the tires squeal on the pavement as they took off, Nick slamming the door as they peeled out of the lot. “Sorry.” He added, resting his weight on his arms so he didn’t crush Cara.

“This is awkward.” She said, laughing a bit as she looked into his brown eyes, like warm chocolate, and he quickly moved off of her onto the seat, then he helped her to the spot between himself and Joe.

“What happened?” Joe asked, looking out the back window at the group of girls. They were trying to chase the car down.

“Someone recognized me.” Nick said, coughing as he took in deep breaths.

“Quite an interesting start to my first visit to LA.” Cara added, she too was gasping as she buckled her seat belt.

“I’d say.” Joe muttered, and Nick reached across Cara to slap him in the back of the head. “Hey!”

“Boys!” Cara said, laughing at them

“Seriously guys,” Kevin said. “Be cool huh?” he finished, quoting John Travolta from Grease.

“Hi.” Cara said smiling brightly, “I’m Cara.”

“Kevin,” Kevin said, twisting around his seat so he could shake Cara’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” She said smiling at him.

Her phone vibrated again, and she saw that Bee was calling, and she bet anything that Libby and Skittles were with her, and that they would have the phone on speaker.

“Hey guys, can you do me a favor?” she asked Kevin, Nick and Joe.

“Sure.” Kevin said.

“Depends on the favor. If it’s jump into a sea of girls, no.” Joe said. “But anything else, I can handle. I’m a professional, with a capital P.”

“I’m going to put my cell on speaker,” Cara said. “Can you say hi to my friends? They’ll like, die.”

“Sure.” Nick said smiling.

“Okay.” Cara said pressing the speaker button on the side of her phone.

“Cara? Cara? Ohmygod Cara!” Bee said. Cara also heard the voices of Libby and Sara in the background.

“Cara’s not here right now, can I take a message?” Joe asked.

“Who is this?” Bee asked, confusion etching her voice

“This is the Jonas Brothers.” Nick said while Cara tried to hold in her laughter. The other end of the line got deathly quiet, and she heard Bee muttering something to Libby and Skittles. Then all three of them screamed.

“GAH!” Kevin said loudly.

“I think they’re getting attacked by a cougar!” Joe said.

“Dude, what? I can’t hear you,” Nick said. “My eardrum just shattered. It’s literally gone now.”

“Oh my god.” Bee breathed.

“It’s really them.” Libby said.

“AHH!” Skittles yelled.

“Hey, ears are very fragile.” Nick said. “Both of them are broken now. Thanks guys, thanks.”

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

“Starbucks anyone?” Big Rob said, pulling into the drive-thru at the Starbuck on 11th and Grand in down town LA.

“Big Rob, my man.” Kevin said. “Chai Tea latte with skim milk.” He added, smiling.

“Grande strawberry frap.” Joe added to the order.

“Same.” Nick said.

“Same.” Cara put in, smiling as she dug around her bag for her wallet, she started to pull it out of her bag, but Nick put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head when she looked up at him, still shielding her face with her hood.

“It’s on us.” He said smiling at her kindly.

“But you’re paying for dinner tonight, it’s the least I can do.” She protested, handing Big Rob a ten.

“Cara,” Kevin said, taking the money from her hand before Big Rob could. He handed her money back to her, even though she insisted on him taking it. “It’s on us. This is supposed to be fun for you, and we don’t want you to pay.”

“Quibble’s right.” Joe said

“Quibble?” Cara whispered to Nick, leaning in closer to him.

“It’s his code name.” he said back, “According to Smankledorf up there, a.k.a. Joe, they make everything more fun.”

“And dare I ask what yours is?” she muttered, taking the money from Kevin’s outstretched hand and putting it back in her wallet before pulling out her cell phone, sending a quick text message to her brother.

 Nick coughed out something that sounded something like “Tiki” but she wasn’t so sure.

“Um, where are we going?” she added as Big Rob handed their drinks back to them. Cara ripped open a straw and stuck it through the whipped cream, taking a big slurp of it and closing her eyes before pulling her hood down, completely forgetting that she wasn’t with her friends, Nick had switched so he was seated on her right side, and he didn’t seem to notice anyway.

“Right now,” Kevin said, “We’re taking you to the mall to get you a nice dinner outfit, then we’re taking you to the hotel. We’re picking you up at six.” He said with a glance over his shoulder at her, she noticed his eyes widen slightly, then he turned back to face the front.

“The mall?” she said, nervously. “Wont there be a lot of… teenage fan girls there?” she added, hesitating with her excuse to not go.

“There is a boutique in the hotel…” Nick said trailing off.

“I can find something there.” She said quickly, “Or I can get something out of my bag, I packed for all occasions.” 

“Even snow?” Joe joked.

“I think I have a winter coat in here somewhere.” She joked back, smiling and letting her hair fall out of its pony tail and into her face, shielding her scars yet again. She knew that Kevin had seen them though. 

“Alright. Let’s take her to the hotel then.” Nick said to Big Rob, who nodded, and pulled onto the highway.

“Oh. My. God.” Cara said when they pulled up to the front of the hotel.

They pulled around to the front, and the boys put on their hats and sunglasses before a valet came to open the door for them.

“Welcome to the Four Seasons Hotel.” The valet said as Joe and Nick climbed out. 

Cara wasn’t expecting anyone to help her, but she was surprised when she saw a hand sticking out to help her. She smiled when she saw Nick standing patiently by her door with his hand outstretched. She took it, settling her laptop case and back pack on her shoulder before standing up.

“Shall we?” he asked holding out his arm for her. She smiled and took it, and they set off down to the front entrance, staying unnoticed by all of the rich people that were staying there.

The first thing Cara saw, was the beautiful piece of coral in the center of the Lobby, with black stones surrounding it, and two red chairs in front with a coffee table in between them.

“We checked you in this morning.” Nick muttered into her ear as she listened to her sandals echo off the floor. “This way.” He added, taking her to the left.

“This is amazing.” She said, trailing behind him while Joe, Kevin and Big Rob brought up the rear of the group, she could hear Kevin and Joe muttering to each other from behind them. “This must’ve cost a fortune…”

They walked up a set of stairs, to a privately accessible floor.

“The Governor’s Suite.” Nick said, pushing the door open.

 

Chapter Fourteen

 

Cara’s eyes widened, and her hand went up to cover her mouth instinctively.

The room was beautiful to say the least. That didn’t even describe it. All of the furniture was set in a neutral tone, and there was a fire place, along with a plasma screen T.V. in the living room, the chairs were made of tan leather, and double doors opened to a balcony. Then she found a door to the bedroom. It had the same color scheme as the living room, but it wasn’t cluttered. The bed had four black and white pictures hanging above it, a lamp sat on top of a step shaped night stand on either side of the bed, and two green upholstered chairs were pushed into a black cherry table.

“Like it?” Nick mused.

“Like it? I love it!” Cara said hugging him.

“And this is the room that Cara is going to be staying in.” They heard Kevin say as he backed into the room, Joe following him with a camcorder. “And this is the lovely Cara, with Nick J.” he added.

“This bed looks wonderful for jumping.” Joe said handing the camera to Kevin and walking over to the bed, standing up on the mattress.

“Joe, don’t.” Nick said.

“WOO!” Joe said, bouncing up and down, sending the pillows to the floor as he jumped up and down, his perfectly straight hair flying all over his face. “Come on! Come jump with me!” he said, before he miss-stepped and landed on the floor with a ‘thud’, that set Cara off and she began laughing very hard. She was laughing so hard, that she doubled over, and soon Nick and Kevin were joining in.

“That was not funny.” Joe muttered, rubbing his head.

“We should probably get going… you know, upload this onto YouTube…” Kevin said trailing off for a moment. “Let you get ready… by the way, we’re picking you up for dinner at six.”

“Okay then.” Cara said smiling at him.

“I’ll send someone up for you.” Nick added.

“Okay.” Cara said, watching them back out the door way. The second she heard their voices fade away. She let out a girlish squeal, and she fell backwards into one of the chairs that Big Rob had been sitting in.

She was going out to eat with the Jonas Brothers, in two hours.

 

After she showered, she dried her hair, and she dug through her bag, picking out a cute bright blue top that fell to her hips to wear with her grey jeans, grey flats and silver heart shaped locket. Then she put up a hint of make-up, grabbed her blue clutch, and a white sweater before heading out.

She didn’t do anything about her face this time. She wanted them to see her for who she truly was, no matter how bad it might turn out, she needed them to know.

“Miss.” Someone said through her door. “Mr. Jonas, Mr. Jonas, and Mr. Jonas are here for you.” a Spanish man named Santiago said to her, bowing.

“Thank you.” she said, slinging her sweater over her arm and walking down to the lobby.

Nick stood there, waiting for her dressed in a navy blue button up with white pin stripes and a nice pair of slacks. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbow length, and he held a single yellow rose in his left hand.

“Cara,” he said, a charming smile on his face as he held the rose out to her. “You look fantastic.”

“Thank you.” she said, confused. Either he hadn’t noticed her face, and that would be quite impossible, or he was choosing to ignore it. “Where are we going?”

“To the one and only Dolce.” He said, holding his arm out for her, which she took happily, smelling the rose.

“Wait, Dolce… you mean the place that is owned by _Ashton Kutcher_?” she asked incredulously as he opened up the door of the family Tahoe Hybrid for her.

“That’s the one.” 

 

The ride to the restaurant was filled with laughs, mostly provided by Joe, and when they reached the front, Kevin, Joe and Nick all got out of the car, Nick pausing to help Cara again before they walked into the classy Italian restaurant. The hostess led them to a table, and Cara swore she saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet eating at one of the tables.

“Okay.” Cara said as they sat down, Nick pulling her chair out for her and scooting it under her before sitting down himself. A hostess came around, filling each of their water glasses and Cara thanked her politely. “Let’s get rid of the elephant in the room.” She continued as the hostess passed around menus and slid a napkin towards Joe. Cara could distinctly see seven digits written on it.

 “Don’t they know that I’m engaged?” Joe said, setting his water glass on top of the napkin. “Everyone in New York City does.”

“Shut up Joe.” Kevin said. “What were you saying?” he added, looking at Cara.

“I know for a fact.” Cara continued, “That the only reason you aren’t asking about my face is because you have been raised not to judge people by their looks, or stare at people who are different, but I can see the questions in your eyes. I know that you want to know what happened to my face, so you can just come out with it.” 

 

Chapter Fifteen

 

The guys were silent. They just glanced between each other, as if willing the other to speak first. Nick unfolded his napkin and placed it in his lap, while Kevin tapped his fingers on the table, and Joe twisted a fork around in his hair.

“Joseph, what are you doing?” Kevin asked. 

Cara could tell they were trying to avoid the situation. Either that or they were trying not to laugh at her. She hoped it was the first choice.

“I’m styling my hair.” He said as he tried to get the fork untangled from his dark locks. “Like in _The Little Mermaid._ You know, how that bird told her it was a hair styler? I wanted to see if it worked.” He finished, tugging the fork as he tried to pull it through the knot that was now his bangs.

Cara sighed. She knew it wasn’t going to be simple to get these boys to talk.

“Ow.” Joe said as he continued trying to rip the fork out of his hair. It was an epic battle between an inanimate object, and man, but it was rather hilarious.

“Look guys.” Cara said as Joe continued to pull at the fork, now tangled to the roots, “I am giving you one chance. Right now, I am open to any questions you may have, but tomorrow, if you have questions, I might not answer them.”

“We’re not gonna ask what happened.” Joe said. He was still trying to rip the fork out of his hair. “If you want to tell us, you can, but we’re not just going to come right out and ask ‘Hey, what did you do to your face?’ that would be so rude.”

“But I know you want to know.” She said. “Joseph, please take that fork out of your hair.”

“I – Can’t!” he said tugging the fork with both hands.

“Uh-oh.” Kevin said. “Joe, you know that means you need to get a haircut don’t you?”

“No!” Joe said in a stage-whisper. “I am getting this fork out of my hair if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

“Drama Queen.” Nick said.

“Too bad we don’t have a camera.” Kevin added, taking a sip of his water.

“I have mine.” Cara said looking around her clutch for a moment before pulling out her silver Coolpix camera and powering it on. “Hold on.”

“Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.” Kevin sang chuckling at his “strategic” use of lyrics.

“Okay.” She said aiming her camera at Joe.

Joe had both of his hands on the fork handle, and an evil, frustrated expression on his face as he tugged the fork outward, trying to pull it through the knots.

“Oh my god!” a familiar voice said, Cara couldn’t place it but she knew she’d heard it before. “You have a Coolpix? No way! Me too!”

Then she turned around and looked up into the face of one of her favorite comedic actors.

Ashton Kutcher.

 _Oh my god. Ashton Kutcher is right behind me_ , Cara thought. _I’m not going to freak out. I’m not going to freak out. Ha, that’s one of the lines from a movie he was in with Bernie Mac._

“Hi.” She said quietly, looking away, again, afraid of what he would think. “I’m Cara.” She added.

“I’m Ashton.” He said, pulling out the empty chair next to her. “But you can call me Ash, or Kutch. It’s nice to meet you, and Joe, I think you’ll need to get a haircut.”

“We already went through this.” Joe muttered, finally giving up on the fork and letting it dangle from his bangs.

“So,” Kutch continued. “Anytime I meet someone with a Coolpix camera, I have this tradition. It actually has two parts…First…do you have a sharpie…?”

“I do.” Nick said, pulling one out of the inner pocket of his blazer, then when Cara looked at him curiously he said, “You never know when you’ll have to give out the “Make-Me-A-Million-Dollars-On-eBay” John Hancock.” He added, smiling at her while they locked eyes. Cara felt butterflies going off in her stomach, and little did she know, so did Nick.

Ashton took the sharpie from him, and he took the camera from Cara, then he signed it, and powered it back on.

“This is the second part.” He said, out stretching the camera in front of them.

Cara smiled, a true genuine smile, one that hadn’t happened for weeks, and she leaned a little closer to him. They took five pictures the first one, was just them smiling. The second was silly faces, the third was a muscle pose that Kevin ended up taking, the fourth was angry faces, and the fifth was them smiling again.

“You are going to meet so many cool people.” He said smiling at her before standing up. “It was really good to meet you, and to see you guys again.”

“It was good to see you too Kutch.” They all said.

******

When they got home, Joe Kevin and Nick were exhausted, and their stomachs hurt. Joe still had the fork dangling in his hair, and every few steps he took, it would hit him in the eye.

"Hey mom." Nick said, letting out a huge yawn. "Thanks for telling us to go to Dolce, it was awesome."

“You're welcome." she said. "Joseph, why on earth do you have a fork in your hair?"

"Don't ask mom," he said, sighing as he tried to tug it out again. "Just don't."

 "Oh yeah," Kevin said, "Joe, you owe Kutch five hundred dollars for that."  
 "Great." Joe said, before trooping into his room. "I'll get right on that."

 

Chapter Sixteen

 

When she had finally got the boys to ask what happened to her face, they were totally cool about it. They didn’t pity her, or judge her, they treated her like she was the most normal girl on the Earth, instead of  delicate fragile person who had a bomb that would go off if they said the wrong thing, and that made her gain even more respect for them if that was even possible.

Bee was right about them. They weren’t like everyone else. They really were something special, and that’s what she learned about them. She learned that their hearts were in the right place, and they’re only normal guys who happen to be in a very successful band, and that band might just happen to have a few million girls wrapped around their fingers, but she didn’t care. As long as they didn’t laugh at her, she was alright with whatever they might do.

 

_“It really isn’t a laughing matter.” Joe had said. “Why would we laugh at you? it doesn’t matter to us what you look like, you’re a pretty cool person.”_

_“Well, thanks.” She had said, smiling._

_“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but we aren’t the kind of guys who laugh at people because they might look different, or have a disability.” Nick said “That’s just terrible. I don’t know how people can be like that.”_

 

When she got back to her hotel, they kissed her on the cheeks, and promised that they would be there the next morning at around eight o’clock. They also told her to wear something comfortable, but to bring a bathing suit, just in case.

Once they had left, she slid down the door, a giddy smile on her face until she heard her phone ring (can you guess her ring tone?), and that brought her back to reality. She answered it, and she heard her mother’s voice greet her.

“Hey mom.” She said letting out a sigh, a content one. 

“How are you? I haven’t heard from you.” her mother said, sounding a bit frantic. 

“I’m fine, the boys are incredible. They took me to Kutch’s restaurant for dinner. And it was incredible. Kutch is totally nice and he took pictures with me, and tomorrow I get to spend the day with them and oh my god mom, it’s incredible.”

“Who in the world is Kutch?” her mother asked.

“ASHTON KUTCHER!”she yelled, letting out a girlish squeal of excitement. “Kelso! Tom! Hank! Simon Green! You know who it is.”

“Is he the nerdy looking guy in that movie with Bernie Mac?”

“He is not nerdy. But yes, that is the guy.” Cara said smiling as she walked into her room and threw her clutch onto her bed, pulling off her flats and digging around her duffle bag for her pajamas with dogs on them. She also had a shirt that matched, but it had a nacho on it, and it said “I am nacho girlfriend,” at the time of purchase, she found it hilarious.

“Okay mom. I’ll call tomorrow night. I love you too mom. Bye.”

The second she hung up her phone, it rang again. And she answered it, hearing a high pitched squeal.

“OH MY GOD!” Libby said 

“Details!” Bee added.

“Play by Play!” Skittles chimed in.

“Okay,” Cara said. “They picked me up today, and Nick and I got chased by girls. When we got to the car, we literally dove in, and I landed in Joe’s lap –”

“I hate you.” Bee said in a mock serious tone.

“So…” Libby said.

“Come on! There’s more than that.” Skittles said.

“Then they picked me up at six, and we went to dinner. And guess who just happened to be the owner of the restaurant.”

“Clay Aiken!” Sara said excitedly.

“No.” 

“Ooh! Jake Gyllenhaal.” Bee guessed.

“No.” 

“Who then? I have no idea who to guess.” Libby said.

“ASHTON KUTCHER!” Cara said excitedly, jumping up and down as she listened to her friends go nuts on the other end of the phone.  After a moment, she needed air, so she collapsed onto her bed, breathing heavily. “And he came and talked to us! And we took pictures together. It was the best night ever.”

“Did you get his autograph?”

“He signed my camera. Just because it’s a Coolpix one!”

They talked for a little while longer, and then Cara decided that she needed to get ready for bed, so she 

Hoping that it wasn’t a dream she curled up in her bed, and she drifted off, waiting for the morning to confirm it was reality.

 

Chapter Seventeen

 

The next morning Cara woke up, stretched and opened her eyes before she shot upwards, momentarily forgetting where she was. She didn’t recognize her surroundings, until she remembered the previous night. Then she sank back into her pillows, a content smile on her face before looking at her clock. It was seven.

She’d never been much of an early riser, but she decided to get up anyway so she took a shower, then she pulled out her outfit of choice as she powered on her laptop, scanning her buddy list as she did so.

For clothes, she put on a purple t-shirt she’d gotten from a Coldplay concert the previous year, white shorts, a pair of white ray-bans, and a white braded bracelet she’d gotten from the last time she’d been in Daytona. That outfit was a good choice for the weather they were going to be having. A nice eighty degrees, a perfect day.

 

xoBeeBomb: CARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

 

Only Bee would be on at four in the morning, eastern time.

 

Carasupacool: Beeeeeee! Why are you on at four in the morning?

Skittlesaremyfave: she’s not the only one

Missxlibsxo: yeah, we’re all here. So Miss “I-Get-To-Spend-The-Day-With-The-Jonas-Brothers, what’s on the agenda?

Carasupacool: I don’t know. They only told me to wear something comfortable and bring a bathing suit. So I’m guessing a beach maybe?

Carasupacool: and guys

Carasupacool: I think I might like Nick.

Carasupacool: a lot.

 

The last part was very true. She’d thought about it the night before, and she only thought that she’d been nervous, but then she realized that the feeling in her stomach was because he smiled at her. It was ONLY when he smiled at her.

 

xoBeeBomb: crap! Mom just came in to check on me, I gotta go! Miss you Cara!

Missxlibsxo: we all have to go, it’s Bee’s turn for the slumber party.

Skittlesaremyfave: yeah, talk to you later

Carasupacool: Kay, bye guys.

 

After she shut off her laptop, then she stole a towel out of the bathroom and stuffed it in a bag along with a change of clothes, a swimsuit, her camera and sunscreen. After she was done with that, she brushed her hair, and clipped her bangs back, then she heard a knock on the door.

“One second!” she said, grabbing her bag and cell phone before sliding her brown leather sandals on and running to the door.

“Ready?” Nick asked her.

“Yep.” She said smiling at him.

He smiled back at her, and she felt the butterflies fighting their way free. She looked away, and at the people walking into the hotel. Which was a bad idea, because they all looked at her for a few moments, then they turned to whisper with the person next to them.

Nick must’ve noticed too, because he put his arm around her waist, and gave her a comforting squeeze before letting his arm drop. 

Even with Nick next to her, she felt hot tears stinging her eyes.

“Hey, let them laugh.” He muttered. “They’re just jealous because they aren’t as pretty as you are.”

 _Nick just called me pretty,_ she thought, and she smiled broadly.

“Mommy! Mommy! Look at that girls face!” a little boy said, pointing at her. “Look! It looks like paint!”

“Don’t stare sweetheart.” The boy’s mother said to him, “It’s not poli – wow.”

Cara let a weak smile escape her as the tears fell. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time she got laughed at, but it hurt just as bad.

 

Chapter Eighteen

 

“What is your favorite…” Cara trailed off in thought. They were in the Tahoe, again, driving to the boy’s house in Toluca Lake to get Denise, Paul, Frankie and Elvis before going wherever they were going. “Song that you’ve written?”

“That’s a hard one! How come you get the easy ones, but give the hard ones?” Joe whined, rubbing his temples.

“You are such a baby.” She said, laughing. “Answer the question!”

“It’s hard!” Joe continued to complain.

“I like Sorry.” Nick said, “And Tonight. That’s a fun song to play and dance around to.”

“See, Nick answered.” 

“Nick is a super genius.” Joe said, “I actually have to think about the answer before I give it.”

“You and thinking is never a good mix.” Kevin said, taking a sip of his coffee and scratching his head.

“Shut up.” Joe muttered, turning red.

Cara laughed and she turned to look out her window, a smile on her face as she did so. It was a beautiful day to go wherever they were going. You guessed right if you thought that she had no idea where they were going. They wouldn’t even give her a clue as to what the day had in store for her. All they said was that they had to get their parents and Frankie before they left for wherever they were going.

“What’s your favorite song by us?” Joe shot back, avoiding answering the previous question.

“7:05.” Cara said without hesitation. “I don’t know why I like it, I just do.” She added, hiding the real reason she liked it as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“That’s one of our old ones.” Nick said as they pulled into the driveway. “And we are here.”

Cara smiled and she pushed her door open, hopping out of the car, and onto the black top, grabbing her bag and letting Nick pass her before she heard a bark and saw a golden blur run past her. The dog practically attacked Nick, sending him to the ground, rolling around in laughter.

“So this is Elvis?” Cara asked watching the dog slobber all over Nick’s face before he turned his attention to Cara, who was crouched down.

“This is Elvis.” Nick said, still laughing as Elvis tackled Cara with kisses while she scratched his ears. “Hey, buddy. Come on, get off her.”

“He’s alright.” She said. “I have a golden too, and he’s the same exact way. Both of my dogs are actually. So, no big deal.”

“Who are you” Frankie asked. “I mean, are you Cara?”

“Yes.” She said, standing up.

“Sweet!” he said, hugging her waist. “I’m Frankie, the coolest Jonas Brother, only don’t tell anyone, Joe still thinks he’s the coolest thing since sliced bread.”

“I won’t say anything.” She said, messing up his hair.

“You must be Cara.” A woman said. “I’m Denise, and this is my husband Paul. We’ve heard so much about you already.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Jonas.”

“Call me Denise honey.”

“Okay…Denise…”

 

“Where are we going?” Frankie whined as he worked on some chemistry work. This kid was eight years old, and he could recite the Periodic Table of the Elements with his eyes closed.

“Yeah.” Cara said. “Where are we going?”

“Should we tell her Quibble?” Joe asked

“Whatever.” Kevin said.

“Cara… have you ever wanted to swim with dolphins?”

“We’re…swimming with Dolphins?” she asked, awestruck. That had been something she’d wanted to do since she was little.

“Yeah.” Nick said, looking down at his hands. “We…uh… wanted this to be the best day you’ve ever had, so we decided to call in a favor.”

“A favor?”

“Emily,” Kevin continued. “My girlfriend, her dad owns a place like Discovery Cove, but this place is in Malibu, so we’re headed there, then we’re going to hang out at the beach until we leave for the venue at about four. Sound check is at five, concert’s at seven. Then we go home.”

“Dolphins?” Cara asked. “I get to swim with dolphins?”

“Yeah.” Joe said. “I think their names are Daisy and Danny.”

“That’s awesome!” she said, getting excited, and hyped up. “I can’t wait!”

About a half an hour later, they pulled around the back of a building, and got out of the car. When the Tahoe was locked, and everyone was out, they walked to a door that said “Authorized Personnel Only.”

“Paparazzi caution.” Nick said, catching the look on her face.

“Oh.” She said, nodding in comprehension. “Sneaky, and stealthy, but totally obvious.”

“What?” Nick muttered, taking her elbow and pulling her through a door, casting a quick glance around, as if waiting for a person with a camera to jump out of the bushes.

“It’s a sneaky trick.” Cara began, trying to explain. “Sneaking through the back, undisguised. But yet obvious, because if the press got wind of this they’d know that you would go through the back.”

“Good point.” Nick said putting his arm around her shoulders as they walked through the dimly lit hallway. It was a tad humid, but that was just from the pool.

“Kev!” a girl said, running towards Kevin and giving him a hug before he leaned down to peck her on the lips. He grinned goofily. 

“Cara, this is my girlfriend, Emily.” Kevin said. “Emily, this is Cara. She won the contest.”

“Hey! It’s really nice to meet you!” she said happily. “Dad’s right through here with Jay and Allie, the dolphin trainers here.” She added the last part as an afterthought for Cara.

“Come on.” Nick said, pulling Cara along behind him.

She smiled, then they continued to make their way through the building and into a room that was labeled “changing.” Joe and Kevin stood there, in nothing but swim trunks and frankie was there, wearing a life jacket.

“Bee is going to kill me.” Cara muttered as she watched Joe check himself out in the mirror. He was flexing his muscles, and making kissy faces at himself, a smirk plastered on his face as he did so.

“What?” Nick said. Cara shook her head, and looked down, feeling her cheek get red. “Come on, tell me.”

“Well.” She said, pulling her bathing suit out of her bag, along with her camera. “My friend Bee, Brianna, loves Joe. And when I say loves Joe, I mean loves Joe. She screamed at the T.V. when she saw him proposing to Tricia on New Years.”

“What about Tricia?” Joe asked turning around. 

“Apparently, Cara’s friend Brianna, is in love with you.” Nick said, “And apparently, she got very mad at you when you proposed to Tricia.”

“Her and the rest of the world.” Joe muttered. 

“And she is going to be wicked mad at me.” Cara added. “Because, I got to see you without a shirt on.” 

“Oh.” He said, getting into a muscle man pose. 

“Kodak moment.” Kevin said, grinning.

“Don’t move.” Cara said, powering on her camera and taking a picture. That of course set Joe off on a ‘who-can-take-the-most-pictures’ contest. But he didn’t use his camera. He stole Cara’s camera, and went around, taking pictures of everything. Literally. Even inanimate objects, the best one, was of a sign that said “Not responsible for any accidents.” Can you see the irony?  

“Alright.” Nick said, taking Cara’s hand to pull her through the door to the outside. they both had changed, and strapped on life jackets. “So, we get to swim with Dolphins now.”

“Really?” Cara asked sarcastically.

“Yeah!” Nick said. “Come on! Come on!”

Cara saw the look on his face, and she burst out laughing, then she saw his expression changed to confusion, and that got her laughing even harder. So she doubled over.

“The…look…on…your…face.” She said, gasping.

“So, now you think my face is funny?” he asked, trying to keep it together, but failing miserably.

Little did she know, Denise had Cara’s camera out, and she was taking picture after picture, watching, as something passed between her son, and Cara. It was something that she hadn’t seen in a long time. Nick was happier than she had ever seen him, she could tell by the look in his eyes. It was hard to miss, and that made her decide that Cara had brought her son back to life. She just wondered how long it would last.

“So.” Joe said, taking a fish out of a bucket as Jay and Allie blew their whistles signaling the dolphins. Emily and Kevin both walked out behind him. “This is Danny.” He said, tossing a fish. “And this is Daisy.” He added tossing another.

“So.” The instructor called Jay said. “You all get into the water, then I’m going to blow the whistle, and they’re going to come over to you. you can just play around with them, or grab onto their fins for a ride.”

Cara slipped into the water, next to Nick, hissing as she felt how cold it was.

“Nervous?” he asked her.

“Sort of.” She admitted. “More excited than anything.”

“That’s good.” Nick said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

When the dolphins swam back towards them, they swam right to her, and she looked back at Kevin, Nick and Joe, who gave her encouraging nods. She took a deep breath, and she grabbed onto their dorsal fins before bringing Cara along for the ride of her life.

Little did she know, that ride was just getting started.

 

Chapter Eighteen Part Two

 

“Did you see how fast I was going?” Frankie asked on their way to Malibu Beach. He had gotten so excited.

“Yeah man.” You were going really fast. Like a bazillion miles an hour.” Joe said, looking up from his cell phone.

They rode in silence for a little while after that, Cara slumped in her seat, her head resting on Nick’s shoulder. Surprisingly, he didn’t shift away, he actually fell asleep himself, so he didn’t know that Joe found Cara’s camera and snapped a picture.

“Yo! Sleepy heads!” Kevin said, more like yelled into their ears. 

They sat up sharply, both turning away from each other as soon as they did so, they were a bit embarrassed, but they did steal quick glances at each other, before turning away again.

They unloaded the car quickly, heading to a nearly deserted spot on the beach. Frankie taking off past them, dragging a body board behind him, kicking up sand.

“OCEEEEEEAAAAAAN!!!!!” Joe screamed, following Frankie into the water. “AH! IT’S COLD!” he yelled, coming up for air. “AND I GOT WATER IN MY EYE!”

“Wow.” Nick said, shaking his head as he laid down a towel to sit on before he pulled a guitar out of the case he had.

“You bring your guitar to the beach?” Cara asked, sitting down next to him, resting her weight on her elbows, looking out at the water as she pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes.

“I bring my guitar anywhere I can get a bit of quiet time.” He said, pulling out a pencil and a note book. He flipped it open to a page with a few lyrics scribbled down in his messy scrawl. The title of it was “Isn’t There Anyone?” –lyrics are courtesy of bee– 

He started to pluck a few strings, strumming chords softly as he hummed along to the melody.

“Can I?” Cara asked.

“I usually only let Joe and Kevin read them. But you… are a… special case.” He said, nodding. “Go ahead.”

“Okay.”

 

 _So sick of people doing a double take_  
they make me feel like there's something wrong with being different  
I may not look the same but I'm just like you  
Easily hurt by a distant expression  
  
Isn't there anyone who see's past my front  
If there is will somebody lead me to them  
All I need is hope, just a little assistance  
Singing this song is my S.O.S.

 

“I like it.” Cara said to him, handing the note book back. “I can’t wait to hear it. The lyrics are good.

Then out of nowhere, a handful of muddy sand flew at Cara’s head.

“What the heck!” She shouted, standing up “Who threw that?”

“Well, it wasn’t Joe. He’s sleeping.” Nick said.

“FRANKIE!” Kevin yelled, emerging from the bushes, sand in his hair as a laughing Frankie ran out to his mother, hiding from Kevin.

“Don’t you hide behind me Franklin Jonas. You threw sand at Kevin, and you know what that means.” Denise said.

“But mom!” Frankie protested

“You know the rules.” Kevin said before hoisting him onto his shoulder and carrying him to the water’s edge before dropping him into a giant wave.

Meanwhile, Joe was sleeping, and Nick and Cara were burying him in the sand. Every single inch of him, right up to the edges of his face. That means they filled his hair with sand also.

“Time to go!” Denise said “Joseph! Wake up!”

“Coming mommy.” He muttered, sitting up as sand fell down all around him. “MY HAIR!” he yelled standing up. “YOU TWO! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”          

“It was Kevin, and Frankie.” Nick said, packing up his guitar and winking at Cara.

 

Cara fell asleep on Nick’s shoulder again on the way to the concert in Hollywood, they both nodded off again, and they were shaken awake by Joe when they got to the stadium.

 “Boys, go right into Lockdown once you’re changed.” Their mother said while standing with Cara backstage.

“Okay mom.” Joe said while they ran through the doors to the changing room, ripping his shirt off as he did so. Then Cara was out of sight, and Nick found himself wondering about his feelings. They were completely mixed, because he liked Cara, but was dating Maggie. That was going to create some problems.

 

Forty five minutes later, Cara found herself watching Nick Joe and Kevin get on this giant thing that lifted them above the stage then circled down for them to walk onto the stage.

“Have a good show guys!” she said as they were lifted into the air.

“I woke up, on the roof with my brothers…” Joe sang out.

She watched from the side as they jumped around, dancing and screaming, she also watched the girls that were crying as Nick danced by them, and she saw him cast glances her way and smile.

“Alright guys.” He said. “We have a few special songs. But we need the stool. Mom! Bring out the stool please?” he asked. 

Cara watched Denise bring out the stool, and she listened to all of the girls screaming for the boys, hoping that they would pick them.

“I need the help of a very special girl.” Nick said. “One of them, is a song that I wrote today, about her. And the others are going to be dedicated to her tonight.”

“Me?” Cara asked Denise. 

Denise nodded.

“Cara? Are you still back there?” he asked her. She took a few steps, and she found herself onstage. Thousands of girls watching her.

“This song,” he said. “Is one I just wrote today, it’s not recorded, and it probably wont be, so you guys, this is special. And I don’t want this on YouTube.”

She watched as a million cameras were lowered.

“Have a seat.” He said before lowering the mic. “This one is yours.”

Then he sang.

 

“So sick of people doing a double take   
they make me feel like there's something wrong with being different  
I may not look the same but I'm just like you  
Easily hurt by a distant expression  
  
Isn't there anyone who see's past my front  
If there is will somebody lead me to them  
All i need is hope, just a little assistance  
Singing this song is my S.O.S.  
  
When will people change  
Always judging, and never knowing the truth  
If the first impression is just a glance  
Another chance isn't what they'll get  
I refuse to waste my time with inaccurate assumptions  
Made by insecure people who jump to conclusions instead of digging deeper  
  
Isn't there anyone who see's past my front  
If there is will somebody lead me to them  
All i need is hope, just a little assistance  
Singing this song is my S.O.S.  
  
I don't want to be treated differently  
What happened to equality  
Isn't there anyone who's willing enough  
Isn't there anyone who's capable of doing so  
Isn't there anyone who sees past my front?”

 

The music faded, and Cara looked at Nick, tears in her eyes as he looked at her.

She got up, off the stool, and she walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him, and getting drenched by sweat. But it didn’t bother her at all.

“Thank you.” she said.

  
Chapter Nineteen

 

Nick made Kevin take him to the studio that night after they dropped Cara off. It was nearly ten o’clock, but he had to record that song for her. No instruments, no digitizing his voice, just him and his guitar. Raw, edgy, nothing fancy, and that was how he wanted it.

It was really a good thing that John had taught them how to use the recording equipment, because no one was there, so Kevin did everything for him.

“Okay Nick.” He said. “Are you ready?”

Nick nodded, and Kevin gave him the thumbs up as he started to play his guitar, letting the music take control of his system. He poured his soul into those lyrics, and he wanted this to be a goodbye present for her.

“Play it back Kev.” He said when he was done with the guitar.

He listened to the music and he made sure it was perfectly in tune, and how he wanted it to sound. It was perfect straight through to the fade out.

“Okay.” He said. “I need to record the lyrics now.”

“Okay.” Kevin said, letting out a big huge yawn.”Then can we go home? I need a shower.”

“Sorry for dragging you out here man.  It’s just Cara’s leaving tomorrow, and I wrote this song for her. So I want to record it for her.”

“It’s okay man. So, here’s the track.”

“Okay.”

Kevin listened to his brother sing the lyrics that he had worked so hard on, and he saw how much passion he put into the song. It was incredible that a sixteen year old could put that much feeling, and raw emotion behind such simple words.

 

Cara slept peacefully in her large bed, cell phone by her ear, begging that it wouldn’t ring, even though she would like to hear Nick singing A Little Bit Longer, she really didn’t want to wake up.

She wanted to avoid the inevitable for as long as possible.

She didn’t want to leave in the morning. She wanted to stay.

 

The next morning, Cara woke early, to the sound of a knock on her door. She sighed and rolled out of bed, putting on her slippers as she did so. She navigated through the suite in a trance, scuffing her feet along the hard wood floors and rubbing her eyes, yawning when she reached the door.

“Good Morning.” She said as a dozen yellow roses were handed to her. “Thanks I guess…” she said digging out the card.

 

Cara,

Yesterday was great, and I

Wish we could have another just like it

But your flight leaves at ten.

So we’ll pick you up at eight.

Love, Nick.

P.S. don’t open the C.D. until

You are home

 

Cara sighed and smelled the roses that Nick sent over for her before heading back to her room and looking at her clock. It was seven thirty. She only had a half hour to get ready, and at the most and hour and a half to say goodbye to three boys she had grown particularly fond of.

Instead of harping on about leaving, she decided to take a shower and get packed up before they came to get her, and that is exactly what she did.

 “What’s with the sweats?” Nick asked her when he came to her room to get her. “It’s like eighty five out.”

He was sure dressed like it was eighty five. He had on a pair of tan cargo shorts, and a pink polo shirt, with his Yankees hat, and ray bans on. The hat made his curls fan out over his ears.

“I’m going to New York,” she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “Remember?”

“Let me get that.” He said, taking the bag from her. “Are you excited to go home?”

“No.” she said flatly. “I really don’t want to go home… and what’s up with the CD?”

“Goodbye present. No, not a good bye. A see you soon, present. We had a really fun two days with you Cara, and we’d really like to see you again.”

They drove to the airport silently, which was odd, because Joe and Kevin were usually talking, but today, there was a sadness in the air, because they knew that they weren’t going to see each other for a long time.

When they got to the airport, they had a private gate for the boys set up, and they all went through security quickly, still silent as they walked Cara through the air port and to her plane.

“Give me your phone.” Nick said suddenly as they stood next to the plane.

“What?” Cara said, handing him her phone.

“If you ever need to talk.” Nick said, typing in his number and saving it under ‘OffdaChain’ “I am now in your phone. Call me anytime, and if I don’t answer, I promise, I’ll call or text you as soon as I can.”

“Thanks Nick.” Cara said as the phone was passed from Nick to Joe and Kevin. She felt hot tears sting her eyes, but refused to let them fall

“Same for me, only I’m under DJ Danja!”Joe said, smiling.

“And I’m under K2.” Kevin said.

“You guys are the best.” She said, wiping the tears out of her eyes. “Thank you so much. This has been amazing.”

“We love you Cara.” Joe said, hugging her tightly.

“We’re behind you no matter what.” Kevin added, hugging her too.

The last person she got a hug from was Nick, and he held her tightly for a long time while she inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of his Polo Black cologne.

When she boarded the plane, she had tears streaking down her face, and she looked down at them from her window seat at the boys who were waving up at her.

Little did she know, the youngest of the three boys, had tears welling in his eyes, and was willing them not to fall.

 

Chapter Twenty

 

Nick stared out the window as they took the lonely drive home, fighting back the tears. He realized it then, that he had fallen hard for a girl he hadn’t even known for two days. He even wrote a song for her, and he never did that for girls. Even ones he did date, ‘Mandy’ was Joe’s idea, and ‘Hello Beautiful’ was Joe’s idea, but ‘Isn’t There Anyone’ was a total change for him. It was all pure, raw emotion. 

And it was written for a girl, and only one copy of it recorded existed, and that copy was currently on a plane to New York, with a girl he’d fallen for.

“What’s up little brother?” Kevin asked him, turning towards him from the seat next to him.

“Nothing.” Nick said, his voice sounded like he’d been crying, and he wiped his eyes before they could see.

He turned around in his seat, only to see Kevin and Joe looking at him quizzically, they were confused.

“Are you crying?” Joe asked him.

“No.” he said, wiping his eyes furiously and sniffing back snot that was trying to drip out of his nose. Perfectly disgusting, the best distraction too. Who would’ve thought that snot, could be so effective.

“That’s disgusting.” Joe said, handing Nick back a tissue. “But, it just proves that you’ve been crying.”

So much for snot being a useful distraction.

“I have not been crying. Just leave me alone Joe.” Nick said. “Mind your own business for once would you?”

“Well excuse me.” He said, turning back around in his seat. “Sorry I was trying to be a good brother.”

“Just leave me alone.” Nick muttered, closing his eyes.

When they got home, Nick went down to his music room in the basement. That was his room, his place to think, and when the door was locked, Joe and Kevin knew to leave him alone. And that is what he did, he put his cell phone on vibrate, and he locked the door before taking a seat on the piano bench.

He ran his fingers over the smooth ivory and black keys before playing a few random notes, then he turned around and looked at his guitars, all fifteen of them, before grabbing his J-45 Gibson True Vintage Acoustic and sitting back down on the bench. He was just getting ready to play when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he answered it, hoping it was Cara.

“Hello?” he said, hopefully. But then he remembered she’d still be on the plane, and his hopes fell.

“Hey Nicky.” Maggie said, happily.

“Hey Maggie.” He said, wearily as he wiped at his eyes. He could be sleeping, catching up on the hours he’s lost the previous week. He could be playing Guitar Hero with Joe and Kevin. But he was talking to Maggie instead.

He should’ve been happy that she called, but he honestly wasn’t too thrilled about it, he lost the spark that they’d had when they first dated, and ever since Cara came along, he’d been realizing it more and more. 

They say that you can feel it in your system when you’ve found the one, and for Nick. It was Cara. He was absolutely positive.

“I tried calling you all day yesterday.” Maggie said. “I knew you had a day off, so I wanted to talk to you. I haven’t heard from you in a long time.”

“I actually had a last minute fan thing yesterday.” He said, putting his phone on speaker and setting it on top of the piano. “So I had my phone on silent.”

“What fan thing?” she asked him as he plucked the chords to Cara’s song softly, praying that Maggie didn’t hear and ask him to play it for her. “Oh, the one with the pictures all over Perez Hilton?”

“What?” he asked, sharply. “Pictures leaked? Which ones?”

“Just ones where you’re all over that girl with the horrible face. Literally, did you even notice those hideous scars? What did she do? Get thrown in a fire?”

“Don’t talk about her like that.” He said, trying to keep a level head. “And I was not all over her.”

“It’s all over the internet.” She said. “You and scar face. Who’d have thought that?”

“Don’t call her that!” he said, feeling his control slipping away from him, he was about to go ballistic. That was not something he wanted to happen.

“She’s burnin’ up for you Nick.” Maggie said, completely ignoring his pleas. “You can see it in her eyes.”

“DON’T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!” 

“Whoa, Nick. Calm down.” Maggie said. “I’m only joking around.”

“I don’t care.” He said through grit teeth. “You don’t talk about people like that, it’s not nice, it’s really low actually.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I just wanted to call and talk to you.” she said sadly. “We need to talk.”

“About…?” he asked, trailing off as he continued to play, this time the chords from ‘Sorry.’

“Us.” She said, taking a deep breath.

 

Chapter Twenty One

 

Cara stepped off the plane in a haze. Her eyes were red from her tears, and she was extremely tired, due to lack of sleep. She had written for almost the entire flight hoping to develop Joe’s character more, using what she’d learned about his personality.

She had written for almost four hours, and her notebook was nearly full with the story. The last two hours of the flight, she had tried to sleep, begging the songs on her iPod to lull her to sleep. But she ended up, sitting back and listening to the music, ignoring the stares she got from people, seeing as she refused to wear her sweatshirt.

“Cara!” her mother’s voice called over the voices of talking people.

When she heard her mother, she turned her head from side to side, looking around the lobby before seeing her parents waving to her. She smiled and walked towards them, letting her parents give her hugs.

“I missed you guys!” she said, settling her bag on her shoulder. None of them had offered to take her bags like Nick had. She sighed, back to reality.

“Did you have fun?” he dad asked as they walked to their truck. Her bag had been small enough for a carry on that jumbo jet that the boys had sent her back home on.

“I had so much fun!” she said excitedly as she jumped into the cab of the truck, sliding into the seat next to Jer and setting her bag on the floor at her feet. “Nick picked me up at the airport, and we got chased by fan girls, and we did this awesome running dive thing into the car before peeling out of there at like eighty miles an hour. Then they took me to Ashton Kutcher’s restaurant on Melrose.”

“Did you get to meet him?” Jeremy asked as he turned onto 481.

“He signed my camera.” She said, knowing that he’d be jealous of her. Ashton Kutcher was his idol when it came to comedic acting. He had watched every episode of That 70’s Show religiously, and he dressed up as Kelso for Halloween, three years in a row. 

“I hate you.” He said, she knew he was joking, but she was sure that he hated her for meeting Kutch.

“Kutch is so nice.” She said. “He did make Joe pay five hundred dollars for a fork though.” She finished, laughing.

“Why?”

She dug around her bag, looking for her camera and she skimmed through the pictures until she found the one of Joe at the restaurant. It was the one with his evil face, then another one of the fork dangling aimlessly from his hair, accenting his black blazer and maroon dress shirt nicely. Then she handed back her camera.

“You can look through them all if you want. The really bad ones are ones that Joe took. I think Nick and Kevin might’ve taken some too, maybe Mamma J too. Not to sure on that one though.”

“Who’s the little boy?” her dad asked from the backseat. “And the dog?”

“That’s Frankie. Their little brother, and the dog is Elvis.”

“The brother is cute.”

“He’s the coolest little kid ever.” She said. “He’s going to be a heart breaker in a few years.”

“So what did you do yesterday?” her mother asked. “And who’s the one with the good hair? The one in ‘macho man’ pose?”

“That’s Joe. He’s a goof.” She said smiling.

“Is that the one that Bee screamed at through the T.V. on New Years?”

“That’s the one… This isn’t the way home.” She added as an afterthought.

“We… have another… surprise for you.” Her dad said.

“A surprise?”

“We got a new house.”

 

Chapter Twenty Two

 

“But Maggie, why?” Nick asked, holding the phone tightly to his ear.

“I can’t do this anymore Nick.” She said, almost monotone. She didn’t sound like she was feeling anything at all. “Not seeing you, the distance.”

“We’ve made it work for almost two years. Why now? Did I do something wrong? Say the wrong thing?”

“No. It’s me. Not you, it’s the distance that’s all, and it kills me. Besides, you don’t love me anymore. I can see it in your eyes, hear it in your voice… I think it’s just time for us to see other people…”

“So this is really it?” he asked letting out a deep breath. “I understand. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, especially for you.”

“Thank you.” She whispered.

“I guess… I’ll see you when I see you then.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Nick closed his phone, and slumped forward, resting his head on the ivory piano keys sighing as he did so. It wasn’t the first time Maggie had broken up with him, but this time she sounded like she actually meant it. She was serious about this. He could tell.

That’s why when his phone rang again, he checked the I.D. and saw that it was Demi, he let it go to voicemail, and he pulled out a new notebook and a pen before dating the page and scribbling down his thoughts. When he was done venting, he replaced it under the piano top where it was, and then he heard a knock.

“Nick its Trish.” 

“One second.” He said standing up and walking over to the door before unlocking it and opening it for his soon-to-be sister. He hugged her and invited her to sit by him on the piano bench.

“Which brother sent you to check on me?” he said, playing a few piano chords.

“They said that you weren’t being yourself, so I wanted to come and check on you. Have you checked your numbers?” 

“Not yet, I was going to in a little bit. But it’s not my numbers.”

“Then what is it?”

“Maggie broke up with me… for real this time, but that’s not the problem. The problem is, is that I’m falling for a fan.”

“A fan.” Tricia said nodding. “Which fan?”

“You know the one we had to spend the day with?” he waited for her to nod before continuing. “Well, she’s really nice, and awesome. She’s down to earth, and super cool. I wrote a song for her.”

“You never write songs for girls.”

“I know. I’ve never felt this way about a girl before. Now, she’s back in New York, and I don’t know what to do.” 

“You sound serious.” Trish said smiling at him. He looked down at his hands, catching a glimpse of the glittering ring on her left hand. “All I can say, is time will tell. Have a little faith, and you’ll know what to do.”

“I don’t want to wait. I want to do something about it now.” He said running his hands over his face and into his hair, tugging at his curls out of frustration.

“Well, I’m not the one to talk with about that issue.” She said, standing up and walking towards the door. “You’re going to need the help of your brothers for that one.”

“What am I supposed to ask them?” he asked. “What do I tell them? ‘Hey guys, you know that fan, Cara, well I think I’m falling in love with her, and I need some help?”

“I don’t know.” Trish said smiling at him, then she turned and left the room, heading back upstairs.

Nick sat in thought for a few minutes, listening to the footsteps that echoed over his head, and the muffled voices before he knew what he was going to do.

“JOE!”

 

Chapter Twenty Three

 

HYPERLINK "http://goodideas.front.lv/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/ranch.jpg" http://goodideas.front.lv/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/ranch.jpg

 

“A new house?” Cara asked, shocked as they turned down a dirt road. “Is it big? What does it look like? What color is my room? When did you buy this house?”

“Slow down, one at a time.” Her mother said, handing her camera forward as they drove farther down the road. 

It was flat.

No hills, no nothing.

Just flatness. Flat, flat, flat. FLAT.

But other than the flatness, the terrain was rather nice, there were a few houses around, not terribly close like in her grandmother’s neighborhood, and there were also trees. Trees made her happy. Almost as happy as Nick did. Who, she still had to call. She looked over at her brother, and then to her parents, she didn’t think they’d notice if she did call him, so she pulled out her phone, and navigated into her contacts, scrolling through them till she got to the O’s and found “OffdaChain.” Then, hesitating slightly, she pressed the green button on her phone and listened to the ring.

“Yo. It’s Nick J, I can’t come to the phone right now, so you know. I think you should just leave a voicemail and I’ll get back to you when I can.”

“Hey Nick.” She said, a bit hesitantly. “I um, well, it’s Cara, and I, um, thought that you’d um, well I wanted to, um, let you know that, I, um… landed safely, and I, just wanted to let you know… so, yeah. You don’t have to call back or anything. I just um, thought that you’d want to know. That I landed safely, and your number is in my phone. Well, duh, you knew that but… yeah, I’m going to hang up now. Bye.” She slid her phone shut. “I am such an idiot.”

“Mhm.” Her brother agreed.

“I didn’t ask you.” She snapped, scrolling through her contacts this time to find Joe. Then she pressed the green button again.

“Yo. Wassup? It’s DJ Danja! And I am pretty good at balancing things, but apparently, not your call. Leave it. Later.”

“Hey Joe.” She said. “Nice voicemail. Anyways, it’s Cara, and I thought that I should let you know that I landed safely. You don’t have to call back or anything. So, yeah. Bye.” Again she slid her phone shut, and scrolled through her contacts finding Kevin this time. She didn’t understand, why when she called Nick, she got nervous, but with Joe it came easy. She had an idea, but she wasn’t sure. So she decided to test her theory on Kevin. If it was easy for her to call him, then her theory was right. So she pressed ‘call’ and let it ring.

“Honey we’re here.” Her mom said, smiling from the back seat as Cara looked up.

It was a small house, with a cement path cutting through the green grass to the front door, and that connected to the driveway. The space between the path and the driveway was filled with tan mulch, and several small green bushes. At least that’s what the pictures of the house in the spring showed.  The roof had a sharp angle to it, and there were dormer windows, evenly spaced between the roof of the garage and the end of the house. The house was a light brown, with green trim, and white garage doors. Jer’s beat up truck was parked beneath the basketball hoop that had been left by the previous owners, and the dogs barked happily from their run in the back yard.

“Is my stuff all unpacked?” she asked her father as she up to the front door. 

“Your bed, bedding and books are. But I wanted you to decide where to hang the pictures and put everything else.” Her dad replied, pulling out the brand new house key, and another one. “This is yours.” He added, handing it to her. It was black with a golden JB on it.

“Thanks dad.” She said grinning.

“Well, my OJD suffering daughter, you are most welcome.”

“I mean for everything, for letting me go to L.A. and the house, the key… everything.” Then she did something she hadn’t done in a long time, she hugged her father. Her phone was still ringing in her hand. “God, has this boy ever heard of voicemail?” she muttered, letting go of her dad. 

“Let me show you around.”

“Okay.”

“Hello?” a new voice said, breaking into her thoughts.

“Kevin?”

 

Chapter Twenty Four

 

Kevin’s phone kept vibrating in his pocket, and it was really starting to annoy him, but he was helping Nick and Joe with some extravagant scheme they were thinking up, so he really didn’t want to answer it.

It bugged Kevin the slightest but that Nick would go to Joe for help with a girl problem first, but then again, he thought, Joe and Nick were closer in age than himself and Nick, plus Joe did have a way with the ladies. So, he settled for being in the third party when it came to girl problems involving Nick. Joe came to him, Nick went to Joe, Frankie went to Nick. It was the way it worked.  

“When’s our next off week?” Nick asked Joe as Kevin looked on. 

“We could do it the week of January eleventh to the seventeenth.” Joe said, chewing on the end of his pencil, he had ditched his contacts for the day, and was wearing his square rimmed glasses. In Kevin’s opinion they made him look better, more mature, but they didn’t work for their tours, or his attractiveness when it came to the press’s image of Joe Jonas. That was the Joe Jonas that everyone wanted to see. They wanted to see that Joe, instead of the brother that he knew.

“We’re in Europe that week.” Kevin said.

“What about the eighteenth to the twenty-fourth?” Joe said, still chewing on the pen.

“We have a family vacation planned that week. Remember? We’re going to Atlantic City, with Emily, Trish, mom dad and Frankie.” Kevin cut in again as Nick began to scribble something down onto a piece of scrap paper.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” Joe said. “Then we have serious recording, and interviews, fan stuff, and 3-D movie screenings all over the place. Texas, L.A. you name it.”

“Looks like March Little Bro.” Kevin said as his phone continued to vibrate.

“Kev, can you get that?” Nick said, rubbing his temples. “It’s starting to annoy. And I have a lot to think about right now.”

“Sorry man.” Kevin said. He wasn’t offended, he could tell that Nick was getting stressed out. “Make sure you check your sugar levels soon.” He added before pulling his phone out of his pocket and leaving the room.

“Hello?” he said after he answered it.

He sat down on the couch, and watched Frankie play with his WebKinz. He was pretending that the dragon was trying to rescue the pink horse. He remembered when Trish had given him his first WebKinz, she’d given him a cow, and he promptly named it Jo. Not Joe, just Jo. She was named after Trish, because her middle name was Jo. And he said “I don’t want her to have the same name as her.” So Jo it was. That cow WebKinz still sat at the front of the hundreds on his bed, the ones sent to him by fans. The ones he decided to keep anyway, they gave most to charity.

“Kevin?” the girl on the other line asked.

“Yeah.” He said cautiously, flicking his eyes to the blank T.V., to Frankie, and back to the wall that he had been staring at. 

“It’s Cara.” The girl said.

He let out a sigh of relief, and sank back into the couch.

“Thank god. I thought you were some crazy fan who’d gotten a hold of my number somehow.”

“Well, in a sense, I am some crazy fan who got a hold of your number somehow.” She said, a smile in her voice.

“That’s true.” He said, chuckling.

“So, I just wanted to let you know.” She began. “That I landed safely, and I tried to call Nick and Joe earlier, but it went to Voicemail.”

“Yeah, their scheming something right now, so their phones are on silent I guess,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Mine was on vibrate, and it started annoying them so, I left the room and answered it.”

“Oh. The whole ‘I’m just going to leave now.’ Trick. Works every time.”

“No, actually it was more of a ‘Kevin please answer that, it’s starting to annoy me.’”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. They probably thought it was Emily. Anyways, my phone is always on vibrate, and it takes forever to go to Voicemail.”

“I noticed that.” She said.

Kevin heard papers rustling in the background, and it set off a spark of curiosity in his mind.

“Are you… unpacking?” he asked her, scratching his head.

“Yeah, oh my gosh, the most amazing thing happened. You’ll never believe me when I tell you. You’ll think I’m joking.”

“Have you forgotten I grew up with the one and only Joe Jonas? Try me.”

“Okay. And no, I haven’t forgotten. My parents bought a new house.”

“No way.” He said.

“Yeah. It’s amazing K2, I wish you could see it.”

“Wait till I tell the guys about this.”

“No!” she said sharply, he jumped a bit when he heard her but he settled back down. “Sorry.” She said. “I just want to tell them myself.”

“Okay.” He said. 

“KEV!” Joe called from the Kitchen.

“Cara, I have to go. But it was really good talking to you. Call again soon okay?”

“I will,” she said. “Now, go rescue Joe from whatever predicament he’s in. but if it’s another fork, let him get it out himself.”

“Will do.” He said laughing. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

 

Chapter Twenty Five

 

Cara slid her phone closed, and she continued to unpack her many boxes of stuff into her light purple room. It felt just like her room at home, only smaller. Her bed was pushed into the far corner, and was dressed with her deep purple duvet and sheets, along with her bright purple pillows. Her stuffed dog, Bentley sat in the middle of the pile of pillows. There was an oak bedside table with a lamp and a clock on it. Her desk sat against the wall adjacent to her bed, and it was stocked with her school books, and notebooks, along with a family picture and a lamp. On the wall facing her bed, was her T.V. stand, already filled with the D.V.Ds that had escaped the fire, including _About a Boy_ , and _Juno_ , two of her favorites.

The first things to go up on the walls were the J.O.N.A.S letters. She considered spelling them wrong, so she could put Nick in front, but she ended up deciding against it. Then the few posters her friends had given her went up, and her shelves got stocked with books. Her laptop was unpacked, and plugged in to charge, along with her cell phone.

Her happiness was overflowing, it was radiating throughout the whole house. She was so excited to live in her own house again, and her own room. When she lived at her grandparents, her and Jer shared the loft, with nothing but a dividing curtain between them.

When she was finally done unpacking, she collapsed onto her bed. All of her unpacking, plus jetlag was killing her. She was practically dead from the strain of her day, and all she wanted to do was sleep, and she almost fell asleep before she heard her _7 Things_ text alert go off.

She reached over and felt around her night stand for her phone before finding it and unplugging the charger.

 

DJDanja!

Wasssssssssup

 

 She smiled, and shook her head before typing a quick reply.

 

Cara

Nothing, really bored, you?

 

DJDanja!

Oh, you know, wedding jazz.

 

Cara

Sounds really fun

 

DJDanja!

Yeah, picking out napkin colors is really fun.

And by the way, almond napkins and cream napkins

SAME EXACT COLOR.

 

Cara

I’ll be sure to remember that 

 

DJDanja!

So, what’s new with you?

 

Cara

Just got home a few minutes ago, so I finished

Unpacking, there was a lot of it too.

 

DJDanja!

You only had one bag…

 

Cara

I forgot to tell you. While I was gone

My parents got a house, and moved in.

So I had to unpack all of the stuff for my new room.

Its purple, by the way.

 

DJDanja!

Purple is a great color

My favorite.

 

“CARA!” her mother called, “Come down for dinner!”

“Be right down mom!” she called back, standing up and walking to her door, her fingers flying across the keypad.

 

Cara

Joe, I gotta go. Dinnertime for the

New Yorker. Can you not tell Nick about the

House? Pleeeeeease?

 

DJDanja!

I wont say anything, and I had to go

Anyway, Trish needs my opinion on

something or another.

 

Cara

Well, the fianc?e awaits.

Bye J

 

DJDanja!

Bye.

 

Chapter Twenty Six.

 

Joe watched Nick carry out the plan that he was creating in his head as Trish showed him napkin colors. Cream or Almond? Olive green or Pea green? They were all the same to him, and he honestly was about to tell Trish that she could just plan the wedding by herself when his phone vibrated. He silently thanked god for that.

He couldn’t believe that Trish was getting so stressed out about napkin colors. Did it really matter? People were going to dirty them anyway, so what was the point? Instead of voicing this, however, he kept his mouth shut. He had learned quickly, when he was seven in fact, that when Tricia was freaking out, just to nod your head and agree with her.

That’s how they met actually, they were playing in a sand box, and he had his toy army guys out. He had let her play with some, and she said that her army guys were going to shoot all of his guys, and he said no they weren’t. then she got a mean look on her face, and she stood up, and pushed him down, kicked sand at him, and ran off to the swing set.

He should’ve known then, what he had gotten himself into.

But still, he didn’t understand why she was freaking this early. They weren’t actually saying vows until December of the next year, so they had a lot of time.

“Honey,” he said. “Is it okay if I take this? It might be important.”

“Yeah.” She said sighing and resting her head on the table.

He smiled at her, and kissed the top of her head before standing up and going to the refrigerator. He knew exactly what she needed, so while he texted Cara, who had left him a voicemail, he poured Trish a nice tall glass of chocolate milk, with whipped cream on the top, and he even threw in a bendy straw for an extra effect.

“Who is it?” she asked him as he sat back down next to her.

“That fan girl, remember the one I spent the weekend with, Cara? We gave her our numbers, and it’s her. I’m just texting her now, so you know we can continue if you want.” 

“Okay.” She said sighing, and completely ignoring the milk.

“I got that milk for you.” He said, nodding towards the glass.

“Thanks. I’m just not thirsty.” She muttered, closing the books and putting her head in her arms. She looked really tired.

“But look! It has a bendy straw!” he said, playing with the straw, “And, wait, can’t you hear it?”

“Hear what?”

“Shhh.” He said. “Listen to the voice, ‘Drink me Trish. Drink me!”

“Well that’s settled.” Nick said, walking into the room as Trish smiled and took a sip of milk.

“What’s settled?” she asked.

“Nick’s little plan, I’ll tell you about it later.” Joe said. “Hey man, make sure you check your voice mail too.”

“I will later.” He said.  Joe could tell that he was tired, they all were. It was a lot of driving back and forth from their house to the hotel, then to the airport and back to their house in one day. And Trish moved to Thousand Oaks, which was south of LA and Toluca Lake, so she had about an hours worth of driving to get to their house.

“It’s only three o’clock and I feel like going to bed.” Kevin said, walking into the kitchen, only to see his brothers and future sister-in-law looking like zombies.

“Right there with you.” Nick said, rubbing his eyes, and having a sudden curiosity about Cara, wondering if she’d listened to the CD yet. But she’d probably forgotten in the rush of getting home, and unpacking along with whatever else she had to do. She did have school the next day too, so that was added to the “Cara Was To Busy’ column in his mind. Plus her friends were probably dying to hear about what else they did over the weekend, so he just decided to call it a day and get some rest.

He didn’t leave his room until the next morning.

 

Chapter Twenty Seven

 

“Back to reality.” Jer said the next morning as they drove to school. “Except now, I have something to look forward to. The NDBA Championship is coming up. That means I get to go to Cali and enjoy the sunshine.”

“It’s not till May, Jer.” Cara said laughing as she turned up the radio. Bruce Springsteen had just start playing, and it was one of her brother’s favorites.

“We’d go down to the river.” He sang out, completely tone deaf. “And into the river we’d dive, oh down to the river we’d ride.” 

There was a short music pause, then he continued softly.

“Then I got Mary pregnant, and man that was all she knew. And for my nineteenth birthday, I got a union card and a wedding coat. We went down to the court house, where the judge put it all to rest, no wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle, no flowers. No wedding dress.”

They pulled into the parking lot at ten after seven, and they did circles around the lot until they found their spot. They were always way too early for school, but it was okay. Cara loved books and learning, and she took great pride in her grades.

“Hey Jer.” Monica Davis said. She was head cheerleader, and blonde, and if she turned sideways she disappeared.

Jer got a love sick puppy look on his face and Cara shook her head before she continued into the school. But before she got inside, she turned.

“Jer!” she called, he looked at her. “Keep it in your pants!”

Then she ran to her locker and hid between the wall and the section of lockers until he disappeared.

“That was so close.” She said, putting in her combination and switching her books with others as she looked around for her friends. Then she made sure that she had the things that Joe, Kevin and Nick had managed to slip into her carryon without her knowing. They were for her friends.

“Hey scar face!” Russell Stephens said. He was another hot shot jock who always had his football posse behind him, no matter where he went.

It still hurt, the words, the insults, the stares. Even with the comfort of Nick’s voice saying over and over in her head “Let them laugh, they’re just jealous that they aren’t as pretty as you.” That was small comfort, and it made her slightly happy, but not much. Then she thought about Kevin dropping Frankie into the water, Joe getting the fork tangled in his hair, and Nick writing a song for her, and she just had to smile. Even if she was close to tears. 

“Hey girl, hey.” Libby said, busting into her thoughts as she walked up next to Cara. Her hair was pulled back, and she had a smile on her face.

“Hey.” Cara said back, digging through her bag to find the long box with the heart shaped tag. “This is for you.” She added handing it to her.

“To Libby from…Kevin Jonas?!” she asked, in an excited voice.

“Yeah, don’t open it yet. Where’s Skittles and Cookio.”

“Present!” Sara said. “I haven’t heard Bee called Cookio in a long time either.” She said. “I don’t know where she is, by the way.”

“Right here.” Bee said as her cheerful face appeared to Cara’s left. “OMJ! How was the trip? What did you do? Is Ashton Kutcher, like, totally amazing? Details girl! I need Details!”

“Chill out Bee.” Cara said chuckling, “I’ll get there. And this is for you.” She finished, handing her a small box and a card.

“Who’s this from?” She asked curiously, opening the card, then the box. “Oh my god.”

“Where’s mine?” Skittles asked, jokingly as Cara handed her a journal. “A journal?”

“Hey, don’t yell at me!” Cara said, holding her hands up in self-defense. “I’m just the mail girl.”

Then Bee let out a girlish squeal and began to jump up and down, box and card in hand. Libby looked at the contents of the box in shock, and Cara took the card from her. It was barely legible.

“Joe.” She said while reading it.

 

So Bee,

I hear you love me huh?

Well, maybe if you had met me a little

Bit sooner, then something could’ve happened

I don’t know if that’s really true

But you never know.

So, anyway.

Cara told me that you were pretty mad

At me for proposing on New Year’s

So, I decided that I would give you

My old purity ring. The one with the

Cross on it. My new one is still in

Use. And I’d like to personally

Invite you to our wedding

Yours Sincerely,

_Joseph Jonas._

 

Bee stared at the ring in shock for a few minutes, like it would change if she just kept looking at it. Then, with trembling hands, she unfastened the empty silver chain around her neck, and slipped the ring on it.

“I always wondered when I’d have something to wear on this chain.” She said softly, looking at the ring.

“EEP!” Libby said. “It’s a guitar pick from Kevin!” she said, slipping her own present around her neck.

“Yeah, you guys get the good stuff.” Skittles said. “And all I get is a stupid dumb journal…” she said trailing off and flipping the cover open, only to see a hand written copy of “When You Look Me in the Eyes” and “Tonight” scribbled in. then Nick had signed them, as well as Joe and Kevin. They really were sweet hearts, taking the time for her friends like that.

“A little bit longer, and I’ll be fine. When I thought it’d all been done, when I thought it’s all been said, a little bit longer and I’ll be fine.” Sang out of Cara’s pocket, and she flipped it open to see “OffdaChain” on her screen.

“No. Way.” Bee, Skittles and Libby said at the same time.

“Hey Nick.” Cara said as she flipped open her phone. “Why are you calling me at Four Thirty in the morning?”

 

Chapter Twenty Eight

 

_A few weeks passed, and Nick felt like he and Cara were growing closer as the weeks progressed into March, even though they were thousands of miles apart. Like Inseparable. She had his heart in her hands, she just didn’t know it. That’s why he was so excited for his plan to come into play, and that was why, when March came around, he could hardly sit still. The plan took up his thoughts at all times, and he also got his driver’s license, so, that was a plus. No more riding in Joe’s motorcycle side car._

 

The last few seconds of Friday ticked away, and Cara found herself staring off in space and tapping her pencil as her teacher drawled through linear equations. This was the hardest class for her to pay attention in. Math. At least today it was the hardest. She hadn’t heard from Nick in at least two weeks, and that was weird. He had texted her so much when he was in Mexico and Europe that she felt like she was there.

Her mother hadn’t been letting her answer the phone for the past week either, even if Cara was closest, her mom would sprint to the phone to pick it up before Cara could.

“Cara stop!” Bee said sharply.

“Sorry.” She said, stopping her tapping.

“You should be.” The bit.ch Taylor said as she copied the last of the notes.

“Wasn’t apologizing to you.” Cara muttered, pulling out her phone to check her text messages as the bell rang. Still nothing from Nick.

Cara was out the door the second she put her phone in her pocket. She didn’t want to talk to anyone she just wanted to go home, so she gunned it to Jer’s truck.

It had been another one of those days, you know when it’s not good, but it’s not bad? You’re just there? Yeah, that was how her Friday was going, nothing special

 

_“Hey Joe!” Nick called, grabbing his car keys. “Are you and Kevin ready?”_

_“Yeah.” Kevin said, walking into the main part of the house with a travel mug full of coffee in his hand, laptop case and duffel bag slung over his other shoulder._

_“Where’s Joe?”_

_“Here!” Joe said dragging a bag behind him, his own laptop slung over his shoulder. Nick and Kevin gave him an odd look. “What?” he asked, defensively._

_“Your bag.” Nick said._

_“It’s heavy!” Joe said, throwing his hands in the air, his un-straightened hair flying all over the place._

_“How much did you pack?” Kevin asked._

_“Enough for a week.”_

_“More like two years!”_

_“Shut up!” Joe said. “Let’s go.”_

_“Yes sir!” Nick said, saluting._

 

Cara dug around her school bag looking for a little thing she liked to call her calculator. They were working on Molar Relationships in chemistry and she wanted to get her homework done so she didn’t have to worry about doing it over spring break, which was the next week.

It was quarter after eight, and snow was sprinkling down gently, like feathers against a dark blue sheet.

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, guitar soared into her room, and she looked for the source, confused. Her CD player and iPod were both off, and her brother was at the basket ball game, plus the music was nothing like his style. It could’ve been her parents, but she wouldn’t have heard the T.V. from her room upstairs.

Confused, she walked to her window, and opened it. When she did, the music got a lot louder.

“Hello beautiful, how’s it going? I hear it’s wonderful, in California, I’ve been missing you. It’s true.”

She looked out, and saw Nick standing there, in a brown corduroy jacket, dark jeans, and a white t-shirt, his Gibson guitar in hand, and he was singing as snow sprinkled down into his hair.

“Nick!” she cried, happily before slamming her window shut, running down the stairs and out the door, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and shorts.

 

Chapter Twenty Nine

 

“Cara you crazy girl!” he said picking her up and spinning her around as she clutched his neck, hoping she wasn’t dreaming.

“I missed you.” She said as he put her down on the ground.

“I could tell when I saw you sprinting across the lawn. Didn’t even get to sing the rest of the song.”

“Yeah.” Joe said, walking outside, joining them, holding out one of his hoodies for her. It was from Penn State. “She ran right by me and Kevin, didn’t even see us. I see how it is.”

“JOEYBEAR!” she yelled, running over to him and trying to give him a hug. He pushed her away gently. 

“Nope.” He said, crossing his arms. “You can’t win back my affections by using my nick name. sorry, it won’t work.”

“But a hug won’t work either?” she asked him.

“Nope.” He said. “That hurt Cara, that one hurt me deep. I don’t think that the hole in my heart will ever be repaired.”

“I must try to melt his cold heart!” she cried, wrapping her arms around him tightly so he couldn’t break free of her grip.

“Speaking of cold, let’s go inside.” Joe said.

“Aww. Is Mr. Big bad popstar cold?” she asked in a little baby voice as he rubbed his arms, she had started to feel the chill herself, but she didn’t let it show.

“Both big bad popstars are cold.” Nick said, laughing as he took his guitar off of his shoulders.

“You are such Cali boys.” Cara said.

“How could you tell?” Joe said. “Was it the fact that we are both freezing? Or our need to own eight million pairs of sunglasses?”

“ _Our_ need?” Nick asked, astounded. “Try _your_ need Joe.”

“Let’s just go inside.” He mumbled, as he put his arm around Cara’s shoulders while she laughed. Nick tagged along next to them, humming some new melody that she’d never heard before. It must’ve been a new song he’d been working on.

“Way to run right by me, and not care.” Kevin said, standing in the doorway, his arms crossed and a serious look on his face. “But I do see that the love triangle is now complete, so I’ll just let you three get on your merry way.”

“We can make it a square Kev.” Cara said. “It’s not that hard.”

“I WANNA BE IN A SQUARE!” Joe cried over dramatically. “Kevvvvvv, come join the square, be in our little love square, blob, circle, thing.”

“Fine. But only because Cara asked me too.”

“Aww Kev, I knew you loved me!” Joe said running to give Kevin a hug.

“I said Cara.” Kevin said to his brother, laughing as Joe tried to hug him.

Her mother and father emerged from the living room, and stood in the hallway, smiling at her and the boys as they laughed and talked. Her father was just happy in general, happy that he made his daughter happy by allowing the visit. Her mother on the other hand was observing Cara and Nick.

She watched as her daughter’s eyes sparkled with happiness every time he said something to her, and every time he would rest a hand on her shoulder, or smile at her, her cheek blushed, and he looked down, sort of embarrassed. She figured it was only a matter of time before something more serious formed between the two of them. The only flaw she’d seen in him was his distance from Cara. When he had called to ask her permission to stay in her house, he’d been nothing but the politest young man she had ever dealt with, and they all were nothing but gentlemen. A definite credit to their parents.

“I want to see your room.” Nick said into her ear, so only he and his brothers could hear. Her mother was looking at them oddly. “The situation is getting awkward.”

“Okay.” Cara replied, leading them past her parents and up the stairs into her purple room.

“It’s really big.” Kevin said. “And… purple.”

“Way to go captain obvious.” Nick said

“OHH! PONED!” Joe added.

“I like the little section of roof, the dormer window. That’s really cool.” Nick said, totally ignoring Joe. “Have you ever sat out there? I bet it’s a great place to think.”

“I haven’t sat out there yet. But I was planning on it.” 

“Dude, check this out!” Joe said. He had found the J.O.N.A.S board, and was standing by them, looking at the pictures. “This has a lot of pictures on it.”

“Yeah.” Cara said smiling. “My friends made that for me when I was in the hospital. They thought it would cheer me up.”

“And did it?” Kevin asked.

“Immensely.”

“CARA!” Bee’s voice shouted up the stairs. “I hope you’re not changing, or doing anything weird like meditating or something, because I brought chocolate, and ice cream, and skittles and snickers, along with Juno, Dead Poets Society and About A Boy, and we are going to pull an all nighter so you can tell me every single detail about what happened on the trip again.” She stopped in the doorway after that. She was wearing an “I <3 Joe” shirt and had three bags in her hand.

Joe was the first to turn around.

“So you’re the one that’s in love with me.” He said, putting on his charming smile and holding out his hand. “I’m Joe.”

Bee stared at him in shock, then fell down, passed out cold, on the floor

 

Chapter Thirty

 

“Brianna…” a distant voice said. “Brianna…”

Cookio came around slowly, her eyes focusing as she became more and more awake, only to see Cara hovering above her.

“Cara, thank god. I could’ve swore I saw…” she trailed off when she saw Joe standing there.

“Hi.” He said brightly, a hint of cheerfulness in his voice. “I’m Joe, and I figured that I’d introduce myself while you’re still on the floor so you wouldn’t fall again.”

“H-h-hi.” She stammered. “I’m Brianna.”

“Jeeze Joe. I knew you had girls fall for you, but I didn’t know that was literally true.” Kevin said.

“Yeah, as lovely Brianna has just proved.”

“Sheesh Cookio,” Cara said. “If I knew you were going to pass out –”

“Shut up.” Bee said, blushing. “I’m Brianna Locklyn, and I’m sorry about the whole… falling down… thing. I was just shocked.”

“I’ve had worse.” He said, shrugging and holding out his hand to help her up. “I take it you liked the present.” He added, nodding towards the silver ring perched on her neck, hovering just over the picture of his face on her t-shirt.

“Never takes it off.” Cara muttered to Nick as he slipped an arm around her waist. Instead of flinching away from him, she let his arm rest there. “Head’s up, Libby and Skittles are c–”

“CARA!” two more voices shouted up the stairs.

“Incoming.” Cara said, looking over at Bee and Joe who were already engaged in a conversation about god knows what before covering her ears. “Cover your ears.” She said to Nick.

“What?” he asked, getting that cute confused look on his face that she loved so much.

“Just do it!”

He covered his ears just in time

“AHHHHH!” Libby and Skittles shouted at the top of their lungs.

“Told you.” She said as Joe winced and Kevin jumped.

“You – you’re – you’re – ” Libby said, pointing at Kevin

“Kevin.” Kevin said slowly.

“Ohmygod.” She said in one breath. “Did you really give me your guitar pick?”

“Yep.” He said back. Smiling, he walked over to her.

“I’m going to talk to my mom.” Cara said to no one in particular. “I’ll be back.”

“Can I come with you?” Nick asked.

Cara looked up into his big brown eyes, and smiled. She saw something different in the chocolate-y depths that day, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but it gave her butterflies.

“Yeah.” She said

She took his hand, and led him down the stairs to the living room, where her parents were laying, all snuggled up in a blanket together on the couch. The T.V. was turned to Desperate Housewives and they were whispering to each other.

“Mom.” Cara said. Her mother looked up. “What are we going to do about sleeping? We have nine people in the house now, and when Jer gets home, that’ll be ten. There isn’t enough room for ten people.”

“Well, the girls can sleep down here.” Her dad said. “God knows they’ll live here for the week. Then I figured that Kevin and Joe can sleep in the guest room, because your brother is not going to want two of three Jonas Brothers sleeping in his room.” 

That answered the question of how long they were staying. One week with her favorite three boys.

“And we have decided, that,” her mother said “As long as he sleeps on the air mattress on the floor, Nick can stay in your room. But you can’t stay up too late, and tell those four upstairs that they need sleep too.”

“No worries on the sleep Mrs. Vono.” Nick said. “We flew from the Bahamas to California, to here. We’ve lost a lot of sleep. So we’ll be crashing early tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks mom.” Cara said.

“Thank you for letting us stay here ma’am.”

“Call me Nora.”

“Okay, Nora.”

 

“So, did you like your surprise?” Nick asked as they lay in bed later that night. He was on the air mattress, looking up at the ceiling, Cara was on her side, arm hanging over the edge of the bed, looking at him.

“Very much.” She said.

“That’s good.”

 

Chapter Thirty One

 

The next day went quickly, only because Cara had school on Monday. The boys had arrived on Sunday, if you didn’t figure that out. Tuesday was her first official day of spring break. But the fact that she had school on Monday upset her, because that was one less day that she could be spending the time with her three favorite boys. And her three best friends of course, you can’t forget them. But she wished, more so for time with Nick, she found herself getting closer to him as they got closer, and the months apart made it evident to her. What’s that phrase… “absence makes the heart grow fonder” well, that couldn’t have been more true.

Monday came with another surprise, Cara went to her classes as normal, but for some reason they were shorter, and then at one thirty everyone was called to the auditorium.

“Cookio!” she shouted when she saw her in the hall, running towards her. “Why are we having an assembly?”

“I don’t know.” Brianna said, shaking her head. “But they always throw in last minute assemblies remember the one last year about not leaving cheetos in the hall?”

“That was the most retarded thing I’ve ever been to.”

The talking around them died down as the principal walked across the stage. It was closed off, the curtains shut and the echo chamber doors that were usually open were closed too. So, something was definitely up.

“I can’t see Scar Face.” A voice behind them sneered

“Shut up Russell.” Cara snapped back.”

“I would, but you’re so ugly, I had to speak my mind.”

“Just ignore him.” Brianna said, folding her arms across her chest.

“Ooh now, she’s got her little minion sticking up for her. I always knew that you used people.”

“I told you to SHUT UP!” she said in a near shout. “I might not be pretty, and my face may be scarred, but at least I don’t run around being a jerk to everyone to make myself feel good. So just SHUT UP!”

Russell sat back in his seat, shock written all over his face as the principal continued to talk. Everyone around her looked shocked as well, because no one had ever heard little, quiet sweet Cara yell at someone like that.

But she was fed up with people treating her like crap because of how she looked. At least she was still alive, if it weren’t for Buster, she would’ve been killed.

When she was just about to let him have it again, she heard the opening chords of “That’s Just the Way We Roll” and she sat up in her seat.

“I woke up, on my roof, with my brothers.” Joe sang as the curtains pulled open.

“What are they doing here?” Taylor asked from behind Cara, excitedly.

“Bee, come with me.” Cara said standing up and leaving her seat.

She looked behind her to make sure Bee was following her, and when she saw she was, she snuck through the echo chamber doors, up the stairs and onto stage right, where Bick could be seen playing his guitar. It looked like he was scanning the audience, looking for someone.

He shook his head, as if his search was useless, then he looked to the right.

Cara caught his eye, and smiled. His face brightened, and he went into a guitar solo, a huge smile on his face as Cara watched from the familiar side of the stage.

 

By the time they finished their ten song set, everyone was up and dancing. Even Cara and Brianna were jumping up and down singing along to “Tonight” and “Year 3000.” And every single girl was screaming with excitement, most of them, because they loved the boys, but none as much as Cara.

When they ran off stage, Cara grabbed Nick’s arm and spun him towards her. He grinned, showing off his perfect white teeth, and he pulled her into a hug.

Now, if this was a movie, Cara would’ve kissed him. She had the urge too, but she didn’t think he felt the same, so she just inhaled the strong scent of his Polo Black cologne, perfectly content.

 

Chapter Thirty Two

 

Tuesday was the first day of break, Cara did a little dance when she woke up and realized that.

Her brother had driven out to California the previous day because her parents decided that he needed a month or so to get used to the California weather, and he needed to train on the courses to get ready for the dirt bike championships. So he had loaded up his bikes, and set off on Monday right after school. That gave Bee, Libby and Skittles a room to share.

Tuesday, they decided to go somewhere that no one would be, so the boys could be themselves for a while, instead of the famous cookie cutter pop stars, so they decided that the park would be a good place to go. Joe drove, which made Brianna very happy, because she got to ride shotgun, leaving Kevin, Libby and Skittles in the middle, and Nick and Cara in the backseat.

All of them were afraid for their lives.

But it turns out that, even though Joe was a klutz he was a pretty good driver.

“Have you listened to the C.D. yet?” Nick asked as he rested an arm around her shoulders.

“I have lots of C.D.’s you’ll have to be more specific.” Cara said, smiling.

“The one I gave you before you left?” 

“Oh my gosh, I haven’t yet! And it is sitting in my C.D. player too! I’m sorry.”

“We can listen to it later, while we sit on your roof.”

 

“Come swing with me!” Joe shouted to Cookio as he jumped out of the Vono family Toyota. “Wait no!” he said coming to a screeching halt, spraying sand everywhere, before falling on his face.

“Are you okay?” Brianna asked, laughing.

“All I wanted to do was ride the horses, but now I have a scab on the side of my face, hands, and knees.”

“At least it’s not terrible.” She said. “You wont die.”

“Oh man, that is going on YouTube.” Kevin said, laughing and pressing pause on the camera. “I am so good!”

“Kevin, you better run.” Joe said standing up.

“Cara catch!” Kevin yelled, throwing the camera at Cara. Nick caught it, and took an action shot of Joe chasing Kevin around.

“Come swing.” He said, softly. She nodded and they walked to the swings.

She climbed into the seat and Nick pulled her backwards, and let her go, pushing her back and forth, and for a moment, Cara felt like a little girl again.

 

Later that night, Cara put her CD player on repeat and set it on her desk by the window. Pressing play as Nick climbed out her window.

“Come on Cara! I’ll help you!” he said

Cara hesitated before climbing up onto the desk and out her window onto the roof. She set her feet on the roof first, grabbing Nick’s hand for support as she walked up the side and swung her leg over the peak of the roof, turning around carefully. Once she was seated, she sat back against Nick’s chest.

“Do you recognize the song?” he asked as they stared up at the stars, reminding Cara of how small they actually were compared to everything else out there. 

“It’s… my song.” She said, whispering the last part. “I thought you weren’t going to record it.”

“I had to.” He said folding his arms behind his head. “For you. You own the only copy in existence.”

“That is so sweet.” She said, tears stinging her eyes, one slipped down her scarred cheek, and she felt his lips brush it away.

“I need to ask you something.” He muttered.

“What?”

“I really like you.” He started. She felt him let out a deep breath, then take another one. “I have never felt this way about a girl before. And I really don’t want to go back to California single. So, will you… be my girlfriend?”

“Yes.” She said, with no hesitation.

“You didn’t –”

“Yes.’

“You don’t have to –”

“Yes, Nick, I will be your girlfriend.”

 

Chapter Thirty Three

 

The rest of the week went by really fast, it came and went in a total of eight hundred pictures, five hundred sessions of laughing so hard your stomach hurts, three hundred smiles, one hundred times that Cara told Bee, Libby and Skittles that Nick, was in fact, her boyfriend, eighty screams from them, seventy five heart melting smiles from Nick, Joe and Kevin, aimed at all three girls, fifty chords on the guitar for a new song, forty five autographs for fans, thirty roses for each girl, twenty bags of mini snickers bars, seventeen bags of skittles, fifteen videos for YouTube, ten gallons of ice cream, nine autographs for the girls (each) eight new necklaces, Seven trips to the store for band aids, six different disguises (including old men), five times that Joe had decided to run in traffic, and discovered, to his delight, that there were no cars in New York either, four new Webkinz for Frankie, three movies, two dinner dates, and one group of happy teenage girls.

But all good things come to an end, and soon they found themselves driving the Vono Family Toyota to the airport.

Cara spent most of the ride there thinking about how Nick was her boyfriend, first boyfriend, famous boyfriend, and he lived in California. And he had so many more girls that were prettier than her, and unflawed with beautiful skin, not rough scarred skin like hers. That’s how she came to know herself; The Rough Faced Girl.

The whole day before he left, he had lectured her about how the paparazzi would say anything to meddle in their lives, and he told her that he was going to protect her from the press as long as possible, and as long as she thought necessary. He also told her that he had a lot of friends that were girls, like Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato, and if she saw pictures of them together, not to believe a word that was said about them dating, because Cara knew where his heart was. It was with her. 

 

Tears leaked out of her eyes as she held him close, breathing in the strong scent of Polo Black again, trying to memorize the way it stung her nose.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can.” He said, wiping away her tears. “I’ll be back. You’re my girlfriend, I’m not going to leave you in the dust.”

“I know.” She said, looking down at their intertwined hands. “I’m just going to miss you. That’s all.”

“You know when the sun forgets to shine, I’ll be there to hold you through the night, we’ll be running so fast, we can fly tonight. And even when we’re miles and miles apart, you’re still holding all of my heart, I promise it will never be dark. I know, we’re inseparable.” He sang to her softly

“Call me as soon as you land.” She said into his shoulder.

“I will.” He said hugging her close.

He kissed her unscarred cheek, and for an instant, feeling the warmth and softness of his lips, she wondered what it would feel like to be kissed by him.

After what seemed like a lifetime, he pulled away and walked to the plane. She never saw the tears slip from his eyes and down his cheeks as he put his seatbelt on, didn’t see the way he had his hand pressed longingly on the glass of the window wanting to stay.

 

Things got busy for him when he got back to California, between walking Elvis, concerts, interviews, shooting JONAS, and appearances, he had hardly any time for himself. But he always made sure he had time for Cara. That was a top priority for him, making sure he called her at least once a day.

And he was scheming again. He had a great plan, an even better, and bigger one, and he had sealed the deal with his parents, and Cara’s. All he needed was the seal of approval from Bee’s parents and he was good to go.

 

“Yo I’m so hot, just like a tamale, so destructive like a tsunami –”

Cara opened up her phone as she took a bite of her apple, it was April and they were eating lunch outside. She smiled through a mouthful of fruit when she saw ‘OffdaChain’ lighting up her screen.

“Go ahead.” Brianna said, they were the only ones sitting at their table that day, Libby and Skittles were in the library working on a project for Latin. “Lover Boy awaits.”

“Thanks.” Cara said before standing and walking over to the bushes by the doors. “Hello?”

“Guess what you’re doing in two weeks.” Nick said, he sounded ecstatic, and like he was jumping up and down.

“What am I doing in two weeks Mr. Jonas” she asked, smiling. She was glad to hear him so happy, plus she hadn’t talked to him in a while, so it was good to hear his voice.

“Well, you and Brianna are flying out to California to spend the rest of the month with us.”

“I’m… we’re what?” she asked. “What about Skittles and Libby?”

“I called their parents, and they don’t trust me. They seem to think that I’m some eighty year old man who wants to get their girls involved with Play Boy…”

“That’s Libby and Skittle’s parents for you. What about school?”

“We have a tutor. Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to both of your parents. So pack your bags hun, you’re coming back to Cali!”

“I’ll pack right when I get home.” She said, jumping up and down, fighting the urge to let out a giddy squeal.

 

“BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Cara yelled, running back to their lunch table. “We’re going to CALIFORNIA!”

“NO WAY!” Brianna yelled

“YES WAY!” she shouted as they both jumped up and down excitedly.

 

Chapter Thirty Four

 

Nick tapped his foot in anticipation as he waited for the JetBlue airplane to land. He was sitting in LAX with Big Rob, wearing his Yankees hat, a red plaid shirt, and dark jeans, Gucci watch on his wrist, glittering in the California sun. They were sitting inside, because the girls weren’t getting off outside today, and it was hard for him to sit still. He hadn’t seen his girlfriend in nearly a month and all he wanted to do was hold her close for a while.

He let his elbows rest on his knees, and he looked down at his black, beat up converse before looking at his watch. It was one thirty, and the plane was due to land any minute.

“Flight 315 from Syracuse now arriving.” A woman said over the P.A. system.

Nick let out a sigh of relief and he stood, picking up the yellow roses he’d gotten for both girls, all he had to do was wait.

 

“Do you see him?” Brianna asked as they stepped into the airport.

Cara searched around, turning her head this way and that, looking for the familiar face and Yankees hat of her boyfriend. It took her a minute, but she found him standing with two dozen yellow roses in his hands, a worried expression on his face.

“There.” She said, pointing him out

When she caught his eye, his face immediately relaxed and a smile, his million watt smile, spread across his face. She started walking towards him quickly, and he opened up his arms, and pulled her into them when she reached him.

“Hello beautiful.” He said. “How’s it going?”

“I’ve been missing you.” She said. “It’s true.” She said back

She looked over to her left, only to see Big Rob and Bee doing a handshake, well, trying to anyways. Apparently Big Rob didn’t wasn’t doing it right, but then again, Cookio’s handshakes did tend to get a little wild.

“Joe’s in the car.” Nick said.

“Joe?” Brianna said, snapping out of her handshake mode.

“Yeah.”

“What are we waiting for?” she said. “To Baggage Claim!” 

“I have another surprise for you.” Nick said, taking Cara’s hand, and getting a tingly feeling that ran through his system.

“And that would be…?” Cara asked

She was happy just to be spending the time with Nick, because every little moment she had was a moment to cherish, and since they lived on opposite ends of the country they didn’t get that much time together, other than phone calls and video chats. It was nothing compared to having his warm hand on hers.

“Oh how do two front row tickets, and all access passes to one of our concerts sound?” he said, nonchalantly as Big Rob grabbed the bags.

“ALL ACCESS?” Brianna yelled, excitedly, causing a few people to stare at her.

“Calm down!” Cara said, smiling at Brianna as they approached the familiar Tahoe.

Joe was leaning against the left front fender of the truck, his hair fanning out under his grey knit hat he had on, and he had his arms crossed, making his biceps bulge out from under the thin Journey t-shirt. He was also wearing a pair of loose jeans, not skinny jeans, like Cara would’ve expected.

“Joe!” Brianna said happily, running to give him a hug.

“Hey Brianna.” He said, smiling. “I have someone for both of you to meet.”

“Okay.” Cara said, not leaving Nick’s side. “Who?”

“Cara, and Brianna,” he said, pulling open the door. “I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Tricia.”

Brianna’s eyes widened, and Cara dropped Nick’s hand to restrain her as a tall girl stepped out of the car.

“Hi!” she said cheerfully, brushing a lock of her chocolate brown hair out of her eyes. “I’m Tricia.”

She stepped up and took Joe’s hand, and Cara had to fight to make Brianna stay calm.

 

Chapter Thirty Five

 

“Hi!” Cara said, as Nick took over restraining Bee. “Sorry about her… she’s a little weird.”

“It’s okay.” She said smiling. “Most girls are when they first meet me…”

Cara smiled, still helping Nick hold Cookio back, she knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but hopefully, it would get better. After all, they were going to their wedding

“You should’ve seen the hate mail that Joe and I got when we first announced it.” She said sighing.

“It was bad.” He said nodding. “I still have some of my favorite hate letters… you know, for the album.”

“I’m Brianna.” Bee said through grit teeth. “You can call me Bee. Or Cookio.”

“Okay Bee.” Tricia said.

 

In the car, things warmed up a little bit between Cookio and Tricia, and Cara observed them from the backseat. They seemed to be getting along quite well, they seemed to have the same personality too both of them were giddy and really nice.

When they reached the venue, they drove past the gated area and to the bus. The boys had a sound check, then they were free for the rest of the afternoon.

For the sound check, the girls stayed in the green room, and they learned stuff about Tricia, like where she was from, and how she met Joe. Which wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, they were best friends forever, and their first kiss was in New York on New Years.

Cara could tell that Brianna was somewhat warming up to Tricia, and she was only happy that she didn’t have to restrain her any more.

“Are you guys ready?” Nick asked, walking into the room, he was somewhat sweaty, but not as bad as Joe, whose hair was plastered to his face.

“What’s the plan?” Bee asked, moving to the edge of the couch.

“Well we were all just thinking about going off wherever…” Kevin said.

“I’m taking Cara to lunch,” Nick said. “You guys can do whatever you want.”

“How are we getting there?” Cara said as she crossed the room to stand by Nick.

“We’re taking my car.” 

“Okay.”

They left the room together, their hands intertwined, both of them smiling like fools as they stepped into the California sun.

“So, how do you like Tricia?” he asked as they walked to the fence.

“I really like her.” She said resting her head on his shoulder. “She’s really nice, and she seems to be a carbon copy of Joe… in feminine form.”

“She really is.” He said nodding, “So, where’s lunch?”

“Got an Applebee’s around here superstar?” she asked him, smiling.

“Absolutely.”

Her grin broadened, and she decided that, even with all of the doubts she ever had about the distance, and her looks, and Nick being trustworthy, that she was happy, and she was willing to give their relationship a shot. She also decided, as he opened her car door, that nothing could interrupt her time with him.

“OH MY GOD!”

Except for that.

 

After lunch, they headed back to the venue so Nick could get ready for the concert. They got lucky when they went to lunch, because there were no paparazzi or photographers out so they got to enjoy their time together.

Cara, Brianna, and Tricia all wished their respective men and Kevin, well apparently he and Brianna had a good time when they went out to lunch, then they headed off to their seats. They were divided in the row, each in front of the microphone of their man, and Kevin. Once Big Rob had escorted Cara to her seat, he took Brianna and Tricia to their seats, Brianna in from of Kevin and Tricia, in front of Joe.

“I woke up, on my roof with my brothers.” Joe sang out

 

“I’m here today to tell you this.” Nick said while he played the piano softly. “I know that some of you out there tonight, just need some hope, just need a friend. It’s always up and down. Well, then tonight… this song… this song is for every broken heart… for every lost dream… for every high, and every low… this song is for you tonight people.”

Cara was sitting, and watching him, a smile on her face as tears stung her eyes. She had never actually realized the emotion that was poured into this song until hearing it live for the first time, and this being her second, she just wanted to cry.

“How many people in the audience know the words to this song?” he asked, playing the piano softly again. “Well, what I want you to do now, is I want you to sing it out with me, as loud as you can because there is something that happens when a couple thousand people, come together and sing a song, alright?”

“But you don’t know what you’ve got, until it’s gone.” She sang as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she flipped it open, seeing Bee’s number on the screen. “And you don’t know what it’s like to feel so low…”

 

Your boyfriend’s looking hot.

I might steal him.

 

She smiled, and looked up to see Nick, standing in front of her, his arm outstretched, other hands desperately gripping his. He smiled when she gripped his hand tightly, their gazes met, and she saw his eyes sparkling with life as he continued, singing the last line directly to her.

“So I’ll wait till kingdom come, all the highs and lows have gone, a little bit longer, and I’ll be fine… I’ll be…fine.”

Chapter Thirty Six

 

Links for the dresses!

Tricia

 HYPERLINK "http://www.brides.com/fashion/dresses/gallery/wedding_dresses/runway/designer/verawang/detail/163441?offset=72" http://www.brides.com/fashion/dresses/gallery/wedding_dresses/runway/designer/verawang/detail/163441?offset=72

Demi 

 HYPERLINK "http://www.dessy.com/dresses/bridesmaid/2759/#catid=1&displaytype=GridMedium&activePage=2&rpp=9&SortOrder=Default" http://www.dessy.com/dresses/bridesmaid/2759/#catid=1&displaytype=GridMedium&activePage=2&rpp=9&SortOrder=Default

Brianna   HYPERLINK "http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=10&id=15618945&parentid=W_APP_DRESSES&sortProperties=+product.marketingPriority,product.startDate&navCount=18&navAction=poppushpush&color=40" http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=10&id=15618945&parentid=W_APP_DRESSES&sortProperties=+product.marketingPriority,product.startDate&navCount=18&navAction=poppushpush&color=40

Emily

 HYPERLINK "http://www.edressme.com/83299628ye.html" \o "http://www.edressme.com/83299628ye.html" http://www.edressme.com/83299628ye.html

cara

 HYPERLINK "http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=369006&CategoryID=28566&LinkLoc=16904&LinkType=SiteAd&AdID=504900" http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=369006&CategoryID=28566&LinkLoc=16904&LinkType=SiteAd&AdID=504900

 

“Hello beautiful… how’s it going?”

Cara groaned, and rolled over, burying her face in her pillow as the song continued. It was on her iPod, and she set it as her alarm. But all she wanted to do was sleep. She didn’t care about anything, she knew that she should get up for school, but she was being lazy.

“I’ve been missing you… it’s true.”

She reached out to hit the snooze button on her alarm, but instead of feeling the hard plastic of her alarm, she felt curls of soft hair. She patted her had around for a minute.

“Hello beautiful… it’s been a long time –”

“CARA! GET UP!” someone yelled. 

Cara shot upwards in her bed and looked to her left, only to see Nick down on his knees by the side of her bed, wearing nothing but his red plaid pajama bottoms, his OmniPod was on his hip, and his dog tags sparkled on his chest. The she laid back down.

“For what?” she asked, rolling over so she was facing him, swiping a stray curl off of his forehead. 

“Good morning.” He said quietly.

“Morning.” She said just as quiet. _I could wake up to this for the rest of my life if I had too,_ she thought as she stared into his eyes

“NICK!” Joe yelled from down the hall way. “HAVE YOU SEEN MY TIE?”

“My duty calls.” He said sighing and kissing her forehead before pushing himself up, the bed dipped with the extra weight that he put on his arms. “I’ll see you in a bit, we’re taking my car to church.”

“Okay.” She said quietly.

“I DON’T KNOW JOE!” he yelled as he walked out the door. “HAVE YOU TRIED LOOKING IN YOUR SHOWER?”

 

Cara slipped the white, colorfully patterned dress over her head slowly and carefully trying not to ruin her fresh braids that went around the side of her head, and connected in the back. She had applied a little blush to her right cheek, put on eye liner and mascara, and she had brushed out the long ends of her hair then she had grabbed the dress.

She buckled the straps on her heels, pearly white ones, and she grabbed her white clutch, which was crammed with, literally everything. She had tissues, her phone, her camera, a sharpie, and a bottle of sugar tablets that she had started carrying around when she got to California. They were instant energy that could save Nick’s life if he was low, because it was instant sugar.

She double checked her appearance, then she walked down the hall way to find Nick, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

He looked… amazing

He stood there, leaning against the wall, hands in the pockets of his tuxedo pants, looking down at the floor, his jacket neatly buttoned, and bow tie hanging around his shoulders. His curls were each gelled into place, and the light dusting of freckles on his face stood out against his skin.

She had to stop a moment to catch her breath, but when she gathered herself, she walked down the stairs, gripping the railing tightly so she kept her balance on her heels. She wasn’t a heels person.

Nick looked up, and his jaw dropped, she took that as a good sign.

“You look… wow.” He said, breathlessly. “I-I mean… wow…”

“Thanks.” She said smiling at him as she walked towards him, stopping at his side.

“Shall we?” he said, sticking out his arm. She smiled and hooked her hand on his bicep.

“We shall.” She said.

 

When they got to the church, Nick had to go to the dias where the ceremony was to take place, but not before he had introduced her to Demi Lovato. Cara had nearly freaked out, and of course gotten about fifteen pictures. Apparently, she was Tricia’s Maid of Honor seeing as she didn’t have a sister.

When she and Brianna were seated, she caught Nick’s eye and he smiled. He was standing with Kevin, and they were flanking a very sick looking Joe. Joe, of course, looked gorgeous, like he always did, all dressed up in his snazzy black silk tuxedo, but he was a light shade of green. And, unlike Nick and Kevin, he was pacing, and talking in hushed tones, as if looking for reassurance from his brothers, saying that everything would be okay.

“I might object.” Brianna said in a whisper, tapping her foot on the ground, making the dark blue layer of her dress jounce up and down in time with her foot while “Sunrise Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof, began to play over the speakers.

“You do that, and you ruin his life forever.” Cara whispered back, watching as Joe continued to pace.

“Why shouldn’t I?” she asked.

“Have you seen the way he acts around her? The way his eyes light up around her? That’s something that only happens once in a lifetime, and if you object, you’ll ruin everything he has.”

“Okay. I won’t.”

 She said that as music began to play, and the little flower girl, Maddie, Demi’s half sister walked down the aisle alongside Frankie.

 

_Joe watched in patience as his little brother and Demi’s little sister walked down the aisle, but he was nervous… what if she said no? what if someone stood up to object._

_He shot a glance towards Brianna, who smiled at him, then he looked back at the aisle._

 

Cara turned as Demi Lovato came down the aisle, a small flower, a yellow rose in her hands. Her hair was curled, and her smile bright as she walked towards Joe.

As the opening chords for “Here Comes the Bride” started, Cara turned, and looked around her, only to be met by a sea of famous people. David Henrie, Selena Gomez, Camilla Belle, Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Corbin Bleu, Vanessa Hudgens… the list went on and on, she couldn’t even count all of the faces she saw that he recognized from one T.V. show or another.

 

_Joe felt his jaw drop open slightly._

_He had never seen Tricia look as beautiful as she did today._

_She had a radiant smile on her face, even though the veil she wore obscured it, he could tell that it could light up a room. And at that moment, all of his doubts washed away, and he was left perfectly care free. For a second, he felt like he did when he first kissed her. All bubbly and happy._

 

“Dearly beloved,” Papa J began, “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. If anyone opposes this union… speak now… or forever hold your peace.”

Cara placed a restraining hand on Bee’s shoulder, to make sure that she didn’t stand up and scream “I OBJECT” to the whole church.

“Do you Joseph Adam Jonas take Patricia Jo Hughes to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have,” papa J said, choking up a bit, “And to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer. In sickness, and in health to love and to cherish from this day forward until death do you part?”

“I do.” Joe said smiling as a stray tear trailed down his cheek.

“Do you Patricia Jo Hughes take Joseph Adam Jonas to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have,” papa J said, choking up a bit again, “And to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer. In sickness, and in health to love and to cherish from this day forward until death do you part?”

“I do.” Tricia said

Papa J reached up and brushed away a few stray tears from beneath his glasses.

“The rings?”

Joe turned and got the ring from Kevin, and Tricia turned and got the ring from Demi before continuing.

“With this ring I thee wed.” Tricia said, softly, smiling up at Joe. “No matter how crazy our life will be with you tripping, and hurting yourself.” She slid the silver band onto his finger, and she saw his signature Joe smile shining on his face.

“With this ring, I thee wed.” Joe said, just as softly with a smile on his face. “No matter how many glasses of chocolate milk I have to make to keep you calm.” he too, slid the sliver band onto her finger, and he saw her eyes filling with tears.

His mother was crying, Tricia’s mother was crying, Cara was crying, Nick and Kevin had tears shining in their eyes, Demi’s eye liner was running down her face… it was great.

“I now pronounce you, husband and wife…” Papa J said, choking up even more. “You may…” he didn’t even have time to finish the sentence, Joe had already swept his new bride into his arms and was kissing her.  

 

Cara looked over at Cookio. She had tears running down her face.

“What’s the matter?” she whispered, wiping at her eyes.

“He’ll never be single again!” Brianna said hysterically.

 

“Well,” Kevin began, taking the microphone as the bride and groom shared the ceremonial champagne, they were both under age, but for a wedding, it was okay. “Nick decided, to give me the honor of the speech giving.” That earned a chuckle from the guests, and Nick shrugged from his place next to Cara. “We are both, best men, but I guess because I’m the oldest Jonas, I get the honors.” Another chuckle. “But this means, that as best man, I am entitled to say, pretty much whatever I want.”

Joe groaned.

“I just wanted to say, that I have known Joe and Tricia their whole lives, and I have never seen two people so perfect for each other, even through the hard ships of our tour, and being separated by two thousand miles of land, that has never broken their bond. They have a trust in each other like I have never seen. And I wish them the best of luck in their marriage, because, hey, who’d of thought that my little brother would be getting hitched first?”

The guest laughed again and Joe stood up.

“But I really do wish you the best of luck. I love you both.” Kevin finished, choking up the last few words as Joe pulled him into a brotherly hug. Then Nick stood.

“I actually do have something to say.” Nick said, taking the microphone from Kevin. “Joe and Tricia, I never thought that I could see a love as strong as my parents, ever. I never thought I could see an unbroken bond.” Nick said taking a breath. “But you guys, you proved me wrong, and I never thought that could happen. But it did, and I am so happy for you both. I just hope the clumsiness is a recessive trait.”

He sat down for a few minutes before music started to play again, it was a slow song, one that he recognized, seeing as he wrote it.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked Cara, smiling.

“Sure.” She said.

He grinned, and led her onto the hardwood floor, she blushed when she noticed they were the only ones there, but smiled when she saw Nick, standing there, offering his hand. She took it, her inhibitions, suddenly gone.

 

_“Young hearts, I believe that we are not that far  
From becoming who we truly are  
Love is on its way_ __  


“Did you write this?” Cara asked as she moved a little closer to Nick, sighing as he led her around the dance floor.

“For the 3-D movie, yeah we did.” He said

  
 _Dreamers, you see everything in color_ _  
_ _While the world is getting darker_  
Love is on its way   


“So,” he sang softly, his voice overlapping the recorded voice, “Hold, on another day, cause love is on it’s way, you’ll find its gonna be okay, cause love is on its way. It’s alright, you’ll find a brighter day, cause love is on its way.”

  
 _Leaders, show us how to love each other_  
It could help us to recover  
Love is on its way   
Lonely, I believe that you will find me  
And together we will truly see   
that love is on its way

 

When the final chorus picked up the pace, Nick led her into a spin step and tilted her torso backwards, smiling broadly as her hair cascaded down her back. She smiled when he brought her back up, and he rested his forehead and nose to hers. 

She thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t, he just pulled her into the next dance with him, smiling at her.

 _Oh well. It’s too soon anyway._ She thought as “When You Look Me in the Eyes” began to play…

 

_So, hold on another day_

_Cause love is on its way_

_You’ll find its gonna be okay_

_Cause love is on it’s way_

_It’s alright, you’ll find another day,_

_Cause love is on it’s way_

 

Chapter Thirty Seven

 

Two days later, Cara had to wake up early to go to Thousand Oaks. She was only supposed to be gone for a maximum of two days, and she already made sure this was okay with the Jonas’s.

Brianna had flown home the previous day. she needed to get back to school, because Chemistry was killing her GPA and she couldn’t miss another class of it, or she would be in trouble, and Cara had arranged for a cab to come and get her and bring her to the dirt bike course in Thousand Oaks.

She couldn’t ask the Jonas’s to do that for her, because it was a two hour drive from Toluca Lake to Thousand Oaks, and they had to go through L.A. and that would probably take longer.

So she just grabbed two days worth of clothes, said good bye to the Jonas’s, and headed out to Thousand Oaks for the NDBA championships.

 

“Hey little sister!” Jer said, walking towards her. It had only taken her about three seconds to find his electric blue trailer after she’d gotten her wristband from the person at the ticket booth.

“Hey Jer!” she said happily, hugging him. He had his blue race pants on, with a white t-shirt, his sponsor jersey was in his arms, ready to slip over his shoulders. His thick black boots were pulled up to his knees and buckled.

“How was that wedding you went to?” he asked, pulling his jersey over his head and shaking out his hair.

“It was a lot of fun!” she said hooking an arm around his waist as they walked back to his trailer.

“Mom and dad went to get breakfast.” He said as they walked up to his spit shined bike. “But they’ll be ba –”

“Cara!” her mother said, shoving a tray of hot coffee at her dad.

“Good to see you too mom.” Cara said, hugging her awkwardly.

“So, back to our discussion.” Jer said, smiling at her as he grabbed his chest protector and pulled it over his head, buckling it. “Did he kiss you?”

“No!” Cara said, hitting him playfully. “We’ve only been dating two months, AND we’ve only seen each other twice.”

“Sorry! Just asking!” he said, laughing.

 

“Be careful.” Cara said as she stood at the start line next to his bike. Her parents were in the stands already, and she was there for support, holding his helmet.

“I will be.” He said, taking the helmet from her, and slipping it over his head, then his goggles. “See you at the finish!” he said, giving her a high five as he started the bike.

“Rock and roll psycho.” She said. “Kick their asses.”

 

Everything seemed to be in his favor, Jer was running strong. He and Max Stevens, the kid from South Cal, had changed places from first to second six times, and Jer was in the lead going into the final lap.

He was going for the win.

But then, his front tire lost its grip, and he flipped over the handle bars, crashing to the ground.

When he didn’t move, Cara knew something was wrong.

 

Chapter Thirty Eight

 

The sound of “Your Guardian Angel” pulled Nick out of his sleep at four thirty in the morning. Keeping his eyes closed, trying to savor the sleep while he could, he reached out onto his night stand, feeling around for his cell phone. When he found it, he unlocked the touch screen, and pressed ‘talk.’

“Hello?” he muttered groggily. His ears were filled with the sounds of sobs. “Cara?” he asked, his eyes flying open as he shot upwards into a seated position.

“Nick.” She said weakly.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” he asked, flipping on the lamp by his bed.

“J – Jer.” She said, breaking off and taking a deep breath. “J – Jeremy… he’s…” she broke off again with another sob.

“Cara, honey. You need to calm down and talk to me about this.” He said gently, trying to soothe her.

“Nick?” a new voice said, he looked up and saw Joe, who was leaving for his honeymoon later that day, “We have to go.”

Nick nodded, then pointed to his phone, standing up. He grabbed the jeans he’d worn the day before, and pulled them on, resting his phone between his shoulder and cheek as he listened to Cara cry. He was happy he could be there for her.

“Honey,” he said searching for a clean shirt he found his favorite blue plaid one, a gold tie and his black vest, before tossing them on his bed and digging through a pile of converse in his closet, trying to find a matching pair. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “I just…”

“Don’t be sorry.” He said softly as he walked down the stairs. He adjusted his laptop case on his shoulder, and he grabbed his aviator sunglasses, heading out the door. “It’s okay. If you have to cry, cry. I’ll be here for you through it all.”

“Jer… there’s been an accident.”

He nearly dropped his phone.

“An accident?”

“A dirt bike accident.” She said. “Can you come?”

“Where are you?” he asked, his mind going blank, then switching his focus to nothing but Cara. Only her voice. Everything except the Cara Column in his mind ceased to exist.

“Thousand Oaks.” She whispered.

“I’ll be there tonight.” He said. “I promise.”

 

Nick stormed into his room after their interview. He sent a stack of notebooks to the floor, clearing a big space on his desk, and tossed the magazine in his hands to the floor, letting it join the notebooks in defiance.

 _Mom and dad wont stop me from going to see her._ He thought angrily as he pulled a duffle bag out of his closet and began to throw clothes in there. He wasn’t sure how much he would need, so he just grabbed a bunch of clothes, his guitar case, a notebook, and jammed three pens in his pocket.

“Nick.” Joe said.

“No time.” Nick said, grabbing his car keys. “I promised Cara. I’m going. Have fun on your honeymoon. Bye.” He said in a rush.

“Where?” Joe asked, blocking his path.

“Thousand Oaks.” He said. “Don’t come after me.”

“You’ll need this.” Joe said with a sigh, throwing his diabetic bag towards him. “Call me as soon as you get there, I’ll find a cover for you.”

“Thanks man.” Nick said, giving his brother a hug.

“Drive safe, and tell Cara I said hi, and best wishes to her family, for whatever reason. I’m sure you wouldn’t lie to mom and dad unless it’s really important.” 

Nick nodded and left the house.

Five minutes later, he was on his way to Thousand Oaks.

 

As soon as he got to the hospital, he found himself searching for a place to park his car, where no one would recognize it. As soon as he did, he threw it in park flung open the door and sprinted through the main entrance and up to the front floor, where Cara said they were.

“I’m looking for J-Jeremy Vono.” He said to the receptionist, gasping for air. “He came in this morning. Dirt Bike accident.”

“He’s only taking approved visitors. Is your name on the list Mr. Jonas?” the receptionist said, scanning down her paper. She hadn’t even asked his name. “Oh, I’m sorry it’s not. But I guess this is something new for you isn’t it? Getting kicked out of somewhere. That means you have to LEAVE.”

“His sister asked me to come.” He coughed out. 

“Sure she did.”

“Nick?” Cara’s voice said.

He whipped his head to the left, and saw her standing there, her face tear stained. He took four long strides towards her and pulled her in his arms.

“You came.” She whispered.

“I told you I’d be here.”

 

“He’s been unconscious for almost twenty four hours.” She said later that night as he walked with her down the beach. They had both agreed that she needed to get away from the hospital. “They don’t know what that means, he could be in a coma, or just knocked out. They think it’s a coma though.” She said sighing.

Nick reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it softly as they walked towards the boardwalk. They could hear Taylor Swift on stage performing, even from where they were. 

When they reached the support beams that the boardwalk was on, Nick stopped.

“It’s beautiful.” Cara said, softly as they stood, facing each other, hands locked.

“It’s my favorite place in the world.” He said as the waves hit the shore softly. They stood, barefoot in the cool sand, the moon reflecting off the waves and the noise as Taylor Swift started a new song from the… Hannah Montana movie… at least that’s what she thought.

 

 _I've never gone with the wind_  
Just let it flow   
let it take me where it wants to go   
Till you opened the door

 _There's so much more_  
I've never seen it before   
I was trying to fly but I couldn't find wings   
But you came along and you changed everything

 

 _You lift my feet off the ground_  
you spin me around   
you make me crazier, crazier   
Feels like I'm falling and I   
I’m Lost in your eyes   
you make me crazier, crazier, crazier

 

She heard a splash, and she turned her head, away from Nick’s intense gaze. He had so much love in his eyes, and she didn’t understand why, there was nothing special about her.

Suddenly a dolphin leapt out of the water and silhouetted out against the silver moon.

“Look!” she said, laughing as two dolphins put on a show for them, doing flips then diving below the surface again.

“That’s amazing.” Nick said softly. 

 

 _I watched from a distance as you  
made life your own_   
_Every sky was your own kind of blue_  
And I wanted to know how that would feel   
And you made it so real   
  
You showed me something that I couldn't see   
You opened my eyes and you made me believe   
  
You lift my feet off the ground   
You spin me around   
you make me crazier, crazier   
Feels like I’m falling and I   
I'm lost in your eyes   
you make me crazier, crazier, crazier

 

“Show offs.” She said, laughing. The dolphins made a sound like they were laughing at her, and Cara turned back to Nick. “Thank you for this… I really needed to get away from the hospital.”

“I know you did.” He said, lifting her arm above her head. As the last verse of the song began, he led her into a slow dance step. Spinning her around.

“I’m scared for him.”

“I know.”

 

 _Baby you showed me what living is for_  
I don't want to hide anymore   
  
You lift my feet off the ground   
You spin me around   
You make me crazier, crazier   
Feels like I'm falling   
And I, I'm lost in your eyes   
You make me crazier, crazier, crazier   
Crazier   
Crazier

 

She looked up at him as the song ended, and he looked down, leaning closer, then hesitating. She surprised herself by tilting her head up and resting a hand on his cheek. He lifted her chin higher with his index finger.

Then with the moon shining, the dolphins jumping, and the cheers as Taylor Swift began “Fearless” setting the perfect scene, almost straight out of a movie…

They kissed.

And the second their lips met, they both felt a flicker of something, almost electric, and they both knew that the feeling would last a long time.

 

 

Chapter Thirty Nine

 

Her phone rang.

“Should you get that?” Nick asked pulling away from her, but not breaking total contact. He rested his forehead on hers and she sighed.

“Probably.” She said back, fishing her phone out of her pocket with one hand, the other still resting on the nape of his neck, playing with the loose curls there. “Hello?” she said when she finally fished it out.

“Cara,” her mom said wearily.

“Mom!” she said. “What’s going on? Have they said anything yet?”

“He’s in a coma.” Her mother said. “They aren’t sure when he’s going to come out of it. So, until then, we’ve made hotel reservations near the hospital. Two rooms, Nick is more than welcome to stay, and we also got a call from a very angry Mrs. Jonas.”

“Oh god.” Cara said, leaning closer to Nick. “How mad are they?”

“When they heard the circumstances, they were fine. They also opened up an invitation for you to stay with them. But you might have to go to some interviews with them and an awards show with Nicholas.”

“Okay. But I’m coming back to the hospital for a couple of days first. We’ll be there in a little while.”

“See you soon.”

“Bye.”

Cara slid her phone closed, and sighed, letting a tear slip down her cheek as she buried her face into Nick’s neck, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself. Her big brother, was in a coma. He was completely shut down. she couldn’t believe it, and didn’t want to. And suddenly, she wondered, if that was how he felt when he saw her laying in the hospital bed.

She didn’t talk to Nick, until they got to their room at the Holiday Inn. So their car ride was deathly silent, leaving each of them to their own thoughts. Hers were jumbled, and she didn’t think she’d even be able to get them out into comprehensive phrases.

They were laying together on her bed, watching T.V. his arm was around her waist, and she had her head resting on his shoulder. They were watching That 70’s Show, and fighting sleep, even though they were both exhausted.

“Please talk to me.” Nick whispered to her during a commercial.

“He’s in a coma.” She said shortly before the show came back on and she closed her eyes, sleep falling over her like a tree.

Nick sighed, and wrapped his arms around her, resting his cheek on the top of her head, before sleep overcame him as well.

 

She spent the rest of the week in the hospital, after she got Nick to go home, convincing him that she would be fine. She sent her parents to the hotel for a few days, and told the receptionist if they came back before that Saturday, to send them away.

So her silent, bedside vigil continued.

She sat at his bed, in a chair for three days, holding his hand, brushing his brown bangs away from his face gently, as if he would wake up any minute, which was a possibility. Her phone stayed off, and rested on the table by her chair. So she had no idea how many missed calls she had.

 

Fifty eight.

That was Nick’s new number. 

Fifty eight text messages in his out box. Fifty eight times he tried to call Cara. Fifty eight times he had paced back and forth in his room. Fifty eight times he had played her song. Fifty eight gallons of gas guzzled in his Camaro. Fifty eight seconds until he could step off the elevator.

Fifty eight.

 

Cara sighed, and rested her head against the mattress. It was Saturday and her parents were due at the hospital any time. It was nice, and quiet in the hospital, and that was sort of what she wanted. The only thing she wanted besides Nick to be there, was for her brother to wake up. She had prayed hard, remembering the words that Nick said about keeping faith.

“Please wake up.” She said, fighting for control of her emotions. 

Her life had spun out of control so fast. She didn’t understand why either. First, it was the fire, losing everything, that completely destroyed her safe zone, where she was the most comfortable. Including her social status, because of what had happened to her face. She was lucky she had the friends she did. Anyone else could’ve dropped her faster than you could said fall, but they stuck with her.

Then came her celebrity boyfriend. She had decided the second that she saw him doubled over at the receptionist’s desk that he was worth everything that she had, she would give up anything for him. He was definitely a keeper. And the way he held her when she was crying, and the feeling of his lips on hers only made it clear to her. Everything was how it was supposed to be at that moment in time.

Then her brother. It was a miracle that the other bikers had been able to avoid him, if they weren’t, he would’ve surely been killed. So, she guessed that him being in a coma, was okay. For now. She couldn’t express how much she wanted him to wake up. She had told him several times throughout the days she had spent with him, she’d asked him for a sign, saying that he was okay. And still nothing.

“Cara.” A soft voice said. 

She didn’t look up. She left her head resting on the mattress, until she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and she sat back, settling into his arms. She knew it was him before she saw him, only because she could sense his presence, and his voice… she could smell the Polo Black from across the room. It was a pleasant smell, and it was an answered prayer having him here with her. 

“How are you?” he asked her as she closed her hands around the one that was resting on her shoulder.

“I’m really tired. And I want to get away from this.” She said wearily as tears threatened to spill. Tears full of stress, and sadness. “I just want him to wake up.” She finished in a whisper.

“I know.” He said, crouching down next to her and making her look at him gently, by turning her face towards his.

“Is it too much to ask?” she muttered. 

“No.” 

“Why is this happening?” she asked. “Why? Why? Why?” she beat her hands against Nick’s chest as she said the last three words, then she collapsed against him, sobbing.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re the only positive thing I have in my life right now.” She said as she shook against him. “Please don’t leave me.”

“Never.”

 

After a hundred million tears, Cara’s parents came, and told her that she needed to get away. That’s when Nick asked if she would go to the awards show as his date. They were only presenting at the Golden Globes, but he still wanted her there. She agreed, only so she could get away.

When she got back to the Jonas house in Toluca Lake, she discovered Joe, running around in his black dress pants, with no shirt on, looking frantically for something. Ignoring him, she walked up the stairs to the room where she had been staying, only to find Tricia standing there in a gold, dress, that looked exactly like the one that Kate Hudson had worn in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. It was beautiful.

“Hey Trish.” She said softly, eyeing the dress laid out for her it too was gold, but it was so light it was almost a champagne color. It was strapless, and a ribbon tied around it where the bodice of the dress met the skirt.

“Hey Cara.” Tricia said smiling. “I heard about your brother. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Cara said. “He should be okay. So, you’ve been to awards shows right? What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, for you, unless you want to expose yourself as Nick’s girlfriend and risk being mauled, then you can just stand to the side.”

“Okay.” She said smiling as she slipped out of her clothes and into her dress. When she was done, she turned around in the mirror a few times, loving the way the dress fit her, and the way it looked. Then she dusted a bit of makeup on her cheek, and brushed her bangs back, clipping them in place with a simple butterfly glittery clip. Then she smiled, and felt like herself. The Cara that wasn’t the Rough Faced Girl. Just Cara.

She met Nick in the black SUV that was going to bring them to the show and he looked devilishly handsome in his black velvet suit and dress shirt. He smiled at her from across the car, she wanted to sit next to him, but unfortunately, his publicist was sitting between him and Joe chatting away rapidly, and brushing lint off of Joe’s suit with a lint brush.

Cara figured that the only way that she would be able to talk to him was through texting, so she pulled out her phone.

 

Cara

Does she ever shut up?

 

She pressed send, and looked up at Nick just as he read through the message and laughed.

“Did I say something?” his publicist said, looking at him curiously.

“No.” he said, taking a deep breath. “Not at all Aimee.”

 

OffdaChain

Nope. Never.

 

Cara

I can tell. And I think she might

Have OCD

 

OffdaChain

Why?

 

Cara

She won’t stop brushing off Joe’s

Suit.

 

OffdaChain

LOL, so are you ready for the

awards show?

 

Cara

Yeah. But I want to go as

Your girlfriend.

 

OffdaChain.

Are you sure?

 

Cara

I haven’t been more

Sure about anything in my life.

 

OffdaChain

Ok.

 

Cara smiled at him and put her phone away as they pulled into the lot by the red carpet. They let the boys out first, and each of them helped their respective ladies down, Nick and Cara, Joe and Trish, Kevin and Emily.

Before they walked onto the carpet, Nick gave Cara a quick kiss, then they walked into the spotlight, only to be met with millions of flashing cameras, at least that’s what it seemed like.

“Stay close.” Nick muttered into her ear. 

“I won’t leave.” She said back, smiling as he rested a hand in her lower back.

She was ready to show Hollywood her face, and let every girl in the world know that Nicholas Jerry Jonas was off the market.

 

Chapter Forty

 

“Nick!” Selena called, running up to him.

She was wearing the dress that she’d worn in the music video for “Burnin’ Up” and she looked gorgeous, Cara thought she was gorgeous anyway, but still the gold against her dark hair made her all the more beautiful.

“Hey Sel,” Nick said, giving her a friendly hug. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend Cara. She’s from New York. Cara, this is my good friend Selena.”

“Oh! Hi! I’m Cara.” Cara said cheerfully, shaking hands with Selena, who pulled her into a warm hug instead.

“I’ve heard so much about you! I feel like I know you already!” she said happily. “We really need to hang out sometime. Get you away from these boys before they influence you too much! But I think I see my mom, so I should go. It was nice meeting you Cara, and here’s my number. Call anytime!”

“Okay.” Cara said, taking the slip of paper that was being handed to her before Selena walked away, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “I have no idea how you can even look at me when you have friends like that.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘when you have friends like that?’” he asked, turning towards her.

“It’s just hard for me to believe that you would even look at someone as ugly as I am, when you have Selena Gomez, and Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato as friends.” She said, feeling a tear slip down her cheek. “I just feel really weird, almost like I’m not worthy. And I can’t hide it so I do feel like I am.”

“I felt like that when I found out about my diabetes. I know how you feel.” He said, hugging her. “I know.”

“No you don’t.” she said sighing into his shoulder. “This isn’t diabetes Nick.” She continued, taking a deep breath. “You can hide that! But I can’t! you don’t have people staring at you, because they don’t know that anything is wrong and you don’t have to tell anyone. People stare at me, so I have to tell them what happened. Do you know what it’s like to have a permanent reminder of what happened to your house on your face? Do you know what it’s like to have people talking and laughing about you? Do you know what it’s like to have lost everything even remotely sentimental? No. You don’t, so don’t even try to tell me that you know what I’m feeling, because you don’t, and you never will!” she said, cutting off and covering her face with her hands as she began to sob, then she turned and started to walk away.

A few moments later, she heard him catch up to her, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close as he wiped the tears away gently, before pulling her tight to his chest.

“Got the news today.” He sang softly. “Doctor said I had to stay, a little bit longer, and I’ll be fine. When I thought it’d all been done, when I thought it’d all been said, a little bit longer and I’ll be fine…”

“Thank you.” Cara whispered.

 

The next few days came without any news of Jer. But word had gotten out that the youngest Jonas was unavailable, and the hate mail started rolling in by the box. Many of them were very colorful letters too, lots of well chosen vocabulary. For the first few days, Nick wouldn’t let Cara anywhere near the mail room. But as time wore on it got harder to keep her away from the letters, and bad articles, and the press especially.

One day, Cara was walking down the sidewalk at Nick’s house in Toluca Lake, and out of the blue, a magazine came soaring at her. It was the latest issue of People, and she and Nick were on the cover.

She quickened her pace as she heard the wind pick up. Nick was a few steps behind her, she could tell by the sounds that his shoes made as they hit the sidewalk. His Dior boots had a unique sound you see. 

Her eyes scanned the article that she had found about them, and they widened in shock. She could hardly believe what she was reading.

“Why don’t you just break up with me already?” she shouted as thunder rolled ahead of them. “That’s what you want isn’t it?”

“What the he.ll are you talking about?” he shouted back, trying to catch up with her as she spun towards him.

“You’re just pitying me aren’t you?” she yelled. “This is good PR, so you’re dating the poor girl who got burnt in the fire, the ugly girl, so you can be the good guy. At least that’s what this says.” She said, showing him the article. “Just dump me like you want. So then you can be with pretty girls again. See if I care.” She yelled, tears already streaking down her face as she ran away.

“Don’t you understand?” Nick shouted after her as thunder rolled. “You are beautiful!”

“No I’m not!” she yelled back, stopping dead in her tracks as she heard his footsteps behind her again. The second he reached her, he ripped the magazine out of her hands, and completely ripped it in half, letting the pages scatter in the wind. Then he spun her around so she was facing him, wiping away her tears.

“Don’t even pay attention to that BS.” He said. “I think you’re beautiful, not just on the outside either. You’re beautiful on the inside, cant you see that that’s more important?”

“But…” she said trailing off and putting a hand on her left cheek.

“That doesn’t matter to me at all!” he said vehemently “I love you for who you are! Not because of what you look like, not because you’re shorter than me! That has never mattered to me at all! I love you because you’re you!”

“You love me?” she asked, tears streaked out of her eyes.

“Yes!” Nick said. “And it’s because you’re you!”

And the sincerity in his voice and eyes finally made her believe that what he was saying was true. Looks never matter, ever. And he had just told her that.

“I love you too.” She said as the rain poured down, getting them completely soaked. Nick smiled his one hundred watt smile, and he pulled her into a kiss, much like Noah and Allie in _The Notebook_. And that was how she would remember it.

Until her cell phone rang, it was her text tone.

“Oh my god.” She said, looking at the message.

“What?” Nick asked.

“He’s awake.”

 

Nick peeled out of his driveway, leaving burn out marks in the pavement, and careened around the corners. He went about eighty five, even through the LA traffic, and got them to the hospital in an hour instead of two. He was just lucky there wasn’t a cop around to arrest him.

When they got to the hospital, they found a spot, and threw the car into park and sprinted, all out, to Jer’s room.

Cara hesitated outside his door, before getting an encouraging nod from Nick and turning the handle, only to walk in and find Jer, sitting up in bed.

“There’s my little sister.” He said smiling brightly.

“Thank god.” She said tearfully, running up to him and pulling him into a hug. “I missed you big brother. I thought you weren’t going to wake up.”

“I missed you too.”  He said softly. “I missed all of you.”

 

Chapter Forty One

 

Cara sighed as she rested her head on the glass of the airplane’s window. Another visit with her boyfriend had come and gone, and this time, she had absolutely no clue when she would see him again. The school year was winding down, and she was getting ready to take her NYS Regents Exams in math, chemistry, global history, and French. There was also the fact that Nick was going on tour, and he was going to be busier than ever. 

She promised him that she would wake up and take his calls at two thirty in the morning after a concert, and she knew that just because his calls were late didn’t mean that he didn’t think about her every second of the day.

Joe and Trish got their own bus for this tour, seeing as she was a writer, she could do her work, and enjoy his while they were on tour. And, Kevin had invited Emily to come with him on their summer tour, and she accepted it. So they would all be together. Except for silly little brainy Cara, who had to go home and study.

She wiped away a tear before pulling out her iPod and pressing the head phones into her ears, putting their song on repeat (Crazier by Taylor Swift) and falling asleep.

 

Nick doodled on a page of his notebook absently as they discussed the set list for the tour. Joe and Kevin were making most of the decisions, because he didn’t much care. His eyes were still red from his and Cara’s goodbye.

She was the only thing on his mind at that point. And he wanted to ask her on the summer tour, but she needed to study, and get her grades up.

 _Hopefully someday we wont have to worry about the distance between us._ He thought as his father walked in, binder under his arm, business suit on. Their uncle John was following him, a Bluetooth in his ear.

“Alright boys.” His dad said. “Have you picked the set list?”

“Yeah.” Joe said.

“Mhm… Earth to Nick!” Kevin said, snapping his fingers in front of Nick’s face.

“What? Oh, yeah. Set list… here dad.” He said, tearing the paper out of his notebook.

“Son, this isn’t the set list.” His dad said. “This has little hearts and flowers drawn on it around the words “I Love Cara.””

“Gimme that!” he said, ripping the paper out of his dad’s hands. “Those two have the set list.” He said pointing at his brothers.

“Here dad.” Joe said, fighting laughter as he handed the paper to Papa J.

“Thanks boys. You’re free for the afternoon now.”

“Hey dad?” Nick said. “I need to talk to you.”

 

“But you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone… and you don’t know what it’s like to feel so low...”

Cara looked at the screen and a smile stretched across her face as she slid her phone open.

“Hello.” She said, a smile in her voice. “How can I help you Mr. Hot Like A Tamale?”

“I have a question for you.” He said, not even asking how she was doing. “I really need an answer from you soon. Like, ASAP.”

“Okay.” She said. “Do I need to ask my parents about this?”

“Yes.” He said. “Ask them if, after your regents, you can come on tour with us.”

“Are you serious?” she asked shocked.

“One hundred percent. Now, quick go ask them!”

“I will!” Cara said as she jumped up from her bed, sending her history book crashing to the floor. She nearly fell down her stairs, and she slid down the hardwood floor in her hallway leading to her living room, her hair flying all over the place.

“Cara what on earth?” her mother said

“Nick asked me to go on tour with him after the regents, can I go mom please? Please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeease?” she asked quickly, folding her hands. “Please?”

“I don’t know,” her mother said. “That’s a long time to be gone.”

“I’ll be fine mom PLEASE?”

“I don’t know…”

“PLEASE?” Cara begged. “I’ll call you every single day, I’ll do my own laundry, I’ll make sure I eat healthy, I’ll even study for AP US nest year. PLEASE MOM!”

“I guess that should be okay. What do you think?” her mother asked, turning to face her dad.

“If this is what she wants.” He said, smiling at her. “She can go.”

“Thank you thank you thank you!” she said happily before returning to her phone. “Nick?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“I’m getting an airline ticket right now.”

“SHE’S COMING!” he yelled to someone on the other end of the line.

 

She saw him as the plane landed. He was standing on the runway, arms crossed, Yankees hat pulled low over his eyes, Gucci watch sparkling in the California sun. She smiled from her seat.

When the plane landed, she was the first one off, and she ran to him, into his warm embrace, inhaling the familiar scent of Polo Black cologne. He kissed the top of her head, and she smiled as he drew her face up for a kiss.

She was finally home.

 

Epilogue: Five Years Later

 

All was calm in the Jonas house hold. Nick and Kevin battled it out on Guitar Hero XI: Jonas Edition, and Joe sat on the floor against Trish’s legs, reading an article about them in the paper as Tricia pulled her fingers through his wavy, un-straightened locks of hair.

Emily sat, holding a new baby boy, Aiden James as he slept peacefully in her arms. Somehow, whenever Kevin picked up a guitar, even if it was a fake one, he fell right to sleep. Tricia had managed to get hers and Joe’s five year old, Adam, and their two-year-old twins, Kenna and Jason to sleep, a few minutes earlier, and she had decided to come and sit with her family, seeing as they were camping out in her house that night.

Nick was sitting, nervously, even though he didn’t let it show, and no one outside of he, Brianna and Cara knew why. It was also his anniversary, and he was having a flashback of when he proposed to her under the boardwalk where they had their first kiss. The way she had looked at him was nothing like he had ever seen, the happiness that filled her eyes was amazing, and it was something that he knew he’d remember forever.

Because even after everything they had been through, the phase of him dating Maggie, the distance, the visits, the time when he thought he was in love with three girls, they had managed to stay together. And she said yes.

 

Cara counted down the minutes in her head, her heart was racing, and her hands were shaking. Brianna Henrie, not Locklyn, Henrie, was sitting on the counter, her wedding ring sparkling on her finger

Cara looked down, trying to calm herself, and stared at her own silver wedding band on her finger. She smiled at it fondly. She and Nick had gotten married two years previous, but they were still very young. She was nineteen and he was twenty, it still didn’t stop them.

“I can’t look.” She said to Brianna.

“You have too.” Brianna replied

“Okay.” She said sighing and picking up the plastic test. “Oh. My. God.”

 

The door to the bathroom opened, and Nick looked up at Cara. She had a straight face, and that made him even more nervous, but he knew that if she started to cry that he’d have to be there for her. He put down his guitar, and stood up, crossing the room in three strides to Cara.

“Well?” he asked her, running a hand through his hair.

“Positive.” She said

In that second, everything seemed to click into place for both of them, and Nick felt an undying joy in his system that sent butterflies welling up inside of him. He let out a yell of triumph, and picked Cara up and spun her around, like he did the day he proposed to her.

“The newest Jonas is on its way!” he said excitedly.

 

Tylar Keegan Jonas was born on April twenty fifth, twenty fourteen.

And the moment Nick held him in his arms, every question he’d ever had about his past, present and future was answered, and when Cara squeezed his nearly broken hand, and sent him a weak smile he realized that this was how it was written.

And it all started with a silly spend a day with a fan thing with a girl named… oh what was it? Kaylee?

No that wasn’t it.

With his beautiful wife Cara.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

The End.


End file.
